HONESDALE, Pa. — Signs were raised as dozens rallied at Honesdale Central Park to protest the proposed merger of the Wayne and Pike County Prisons.
Jason Thomas is a sergeant at the Wayne county prison. He's is nervous about the future of his job.
"With mortgages, child care, car payments. We can't take a guess come Thanksgiving while they're eating their nice little dinners and we don't have a job," said Sergeant Jason L. Thomas, Wayne County Prison.
Wayne and Pike County Commissioners recently hired a consulting firm to conduct a study on the counties' correctional facilities.
Officials are considering merging both facilities, meaning all the inmates from Wayne county would be consolidated to the facility in Pike county.
"11 years of fighting for a sergeant spot now I gotta go to the bottom of the latter and start as number one," Thomas said. "I'm 51 years old I don't want to play this game. I've been doing this for 17 years. I've earned that respect I thought."
Not only are people concerned about their jobs, but they're also curious to see what the county plans to do with the building.
Katie Nixon is a correctional officer at the Wayne County Prison. She says it's not just the employees that would be impacted by the potential closure.
"It's one time their partner, times the next one that they have in their family. None of us are just one. I wish that the commissioners would think about that," said Katie Nixon, a corrections officer with the Wayne County Prison.
County officials say the study will be concluded in about two weeks. No official decision has been made.