Lycoming County Prison. SUN-GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

The average daily population at the Lycoming County Prison as of the end of April was around 249, according to a report from Warden Brad Shoemaker at this month’s board meeting. That figure is fairly consistent with the average daily population for the month of April, which was 247.9 with a peak population of 258.25.

Those numbers are a little ahead of the data from April 2024, when the average daily population was 226 and the peak was 237.

The mental health snapshot, which was taken on May 6, showed that of the 284 inmates on that day in the prison, 104 or 36.62 percent were found to have no mental health history, which is Roster A. Another 76, or 26.76 percent were under Roster B, which means they had a past mental health history, but no active symptoms in the past year. There were 89 inmates, or 31.34 percent who were considered on Roster C, which meant that have a current or history of psychotropic medications, outpatient counseling, psychiatric hospitalizations self-harm or suicide attemps. The remaining 15 inmates or 5.28 percent were on Roster D, which is having serious mental illness.

The mental health snapshot which was taken almost exactly a year ago on May 7, 2024 listed a total of 259 inmates in the prison system, broken down into 224 males and 35 females.

Of that, 105 males and 5 females or 42.86 percent of the total population were on Roster A meaning they had no mental health issues. On Roster B-those with past mental health issues but no active symptom-were 59 males and 9 females or 26.25 percent. Under Roster C, those having current mental health issues were 53 males and 19 females or 27.80 percent. Finally on Roster D, six males and two females were determined to have serious mental illness. That equates to 3.09 percent of the total population.

The data reveals that the prison population cited for the May snapshot showed an increase of 25 more inmates this year. It also shows that there were more inmates, by percentage, who were under Rosters A, C and D than last year. The percentage of inmates under Roster B remained fairly consistent this year and last year.

The number of inmates at the Prison receiving psychotropic medications averaged 45.79 percent this year and 29.47 percent for the mental health snapshot last year.