SUNBURY -- Northumberland County Commissioners announced Tuesday that instead of building a new prison, inmates will be moved into an old juvenile facility outside Shamokin that the state will not use anymore.
When the county prison in Sunbury caught fire last year, commissioners needed a plan of action to replace it.
A juvenile detention facility near Shamokin was not available at the time, but now it is, and the county commissioners decided to buy the place for $6.5 million.
Ground was broken in December on the new Northumberland County Prison at the former Celotex site in Sunbury. But it turns out construction on a prison won't happen in Sunbury after all.
In a unanimous vote, the commissioners decided to buy Northwestern Academy, a juvenile detention facility in Coal Township, near Shamokin.
Commissioner Kym Best calls it fate.
"We have to bring it up to code by taking it from a juvenile facility to adult, but we can do that so reasonably, that it makes absolutely no sense not to do this," said Comm. Kym Best, (D) Northumberland County.
Northwestern Academy is a private juvenile facility that will be going out of business in June.
"We took our time evaluating it. All the commissioners went up. We got people who knew how to transform it into an adult prison," explained Comm. Sam Schiccatano, (R) Northumberland County.
Northwestern Academy is more than double the size of the site in Sunbury that was originally chosen for the new prison. The commissioners say the juvenile facility can be converted to house more than 300 adult inmates.
Commissioner Best says it would cost $41 million to finish work at the site in Sunbury. The commissioners say by stopping this project in Sunbury and taking over Northwestern Academy, it will save taxpayers around $15 million.
"I think it's great," said Coal Township resident Edwin Griffiths. "They're saving $15 million. That's a no-brainer right there. They have the room to expand."
Best says $4 million had already been invested into the Celotex site. The county now plans to sell that property and has interested buyers.
Since there will be so much room in the new facility in Coal Township, Northumberland County could make some extra money by housing inmates from other counties.
"We already have the SCI there. We're in a prison area, so why not?" said Coal Township resident Puanani Griffiths.
The cost of transporting inmates from the new prison in Coal Township to the courthouse in Sunbury will go up around $250,000 a year, but commissioners say they plan to put holding cells in Sunbury, which will cut down that cost.
Commissioners hope to open the new facility near Shamokin by the end of this year.
