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Report: Prison population up

The Lycoming County Prison inmate population increased during August from the previous month for both men and women.

Figures released during Friday’s prison board meeting revealed the average male population at 211.74 and 31.23 for females.

For July, those figures were 210.68 for men and 29.61 for women.

For the year, the average male population stands at 206.71 and the average female figure is 30.67.

Also at the meeting, board member and county commissioner Rick Mirabito said he’d like to see figures for the average daily costs for housing inmates.

He said such information would give officials a better idea of how to best use its resources.

“At the Pre-Release Center, we don’t lease out bed space,” he said. “There is empty space there.”

He noted that staffing and other resources remain the same at the PRC even during times of declining inmate populations.

Prison Warden Brad Shoemaker said coming up with daily prisoner cost figures is certainly something worth exploring. But he said calculating it all could be difficult.

“Many factors go into that,” he said.

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