Warden reports July population, staffing and three extraordinary incidents; board hears personnel matters in executive session

Warden Bette reported to the Lackawanna County Prison Board on Aug. 20 that the facility’s average daily population for July was 631 inmates and provided staffing, budget and incident details.

“ The average daily population for July was 631 inmates,” Warden Bette said. She told the board 491 of those were county inmates and that the July averages included 578 adult males, three juvenile males and 50 adult females. The average daily population of U.S. Marshals detainees was 140 and Susquehanna County detainees averaged five, she said.

On staffing, she reported 169 full-time officers on shift, five on workers’ compensation, 76 with intermittent FMLA, zero on continuous FMLA, zero on administrative leave and eight full-time vacancies; she presented the staffing and overtime reports to the board.

The warden reported three extraordinary occurrences in July: on July 1 a male inmate jumped from an upper tier and was transported by ambulance; on July 5 a male inmate repeatedly banged his head and was placed in an emergency restraint chair and treated by medical staff; and on July 24 a male inmate became disruptive during booking, threatened staff and was secured in an emergency restraint chair and assessed by medical staff. She said no PREA investigations were completed in July.

The board voted to accept the warden’s report by motion and voice vote. Later in the meeting the board went into a personnel executive session; when the public session resumed, Warden Bette announced three retirements: Dave Delvecchio after 28 years, Martin Adley after 20 years and John Dodson after 24 years of service.

The chair and other members thanked the retirees for their service.