Officials delivering informational reports to the Lycoming County Prison Board said the facility and its prerelease center saw an increase in average daily population and provided monthly statistics on disciplinary hearings, mental-health caseloads, medications and reentry programming.

Warden’s staff reported that in December the prison averaged 186.45 males and the prerelease center averaged 30.97 males, producing a combined average daily population of 217.42 for those counts. Across the system the reported average daily population for the month was 246.9 with a peak population of 263; the year-to-date average was 235.16, compared with 232.02 for 2023. The speaker noted that December 2024’s average (246) marked a significant increase from December 2023 (215).

The disciplinary committee, chaired in the report by Deputy Ward Barnes, conducted 44 hearings in December. The report said 42 hearings resulted in guilty findings with lockup time imposed, and two hearings resulted in not-guilty findings. The hearings involved 33 inmates; eight of those inmates had more than one incident. Staff also filed 23 informational reports during the month.

The board received a mental-health snapshot taken Jan. 7, 2025, showing 276 inmates systemwide (242 males, 34 females) on the census day. The report classified 117 inmates (42.39%) as Roster A (no mental-health history), 56 (20.29%) as Roster B (past mental-health history, no active symptoms in the last year), 90 (32.61%) as Roster C (current mental-health issues), and 13 (4.71%) as Roster D (serious mental illness).

Medication statistics provided for the same snapshot day showed that at the prerelease center 10 of 30 male inmates (33.33%) and 3 of 5 female inmates (60%) were receiving psychotropic medications. At the prison, 83 of 190 male inmates (43.8%) and 12 of 26 female inmates (46.15%) were on psychotropic medications. The report aggregated the systemwide medication rate at roughly 43.02%.

Reentry and program reports were delivered by Mr. Plutch and reentry staff. The prerelease center reported an average of 11 inmates per day on work release (male) and 1 female inmate; work-crew averages were 21 males and 5 females for an average daily work population of 32 and 6 respectively. The bail-release program recorded an average of 129.38 clients in December (39.06 on supervised bail, 88.26 on intensive supervised bail, and 2.06 on supervised release for driving-under-suspension cases), and program figures said those clients saved 4,011 bed days at the jail. The report noted that effective Jan. 1 the bail-release program is now under the supervision of the courts and that the courts will continue to provide monthly reports to the board.

Reentry programming numbers for December included 17 intakes, 25 discharges and 14 successful completions; the report also listed cumulative intake counts and transitional-action-plan totals for 2024. Staff reported training highlights: on Dec. 11, Jacob Pries, Sean Meskel, Gabe Campana and Michelle Probst completed basic training at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Training Academy in Elizabethtown; on Dec. 12, Deputy Warden Ebner and the warden conducted a jail tour for the Leadership Lycoming Class of 2026.

The board took no formal policy votes on the informational reports; the items were presented for review.

Ending: The informational reports will be included in the board packet each month; staff indicated the courts will assume ongoing supervision and reporting for the bail-release program beginning Jan. 1.