County Looks to Increase Revenue With Jail Expansion

WAYNESBURG, Pa. – Despite having extra room at the Greene County jail, county commissioners and the county’s prison board have approved an expansion plan that will add 30 beds to the facility.


Officials hope the plan will increase revenue by housing inmates from other counties that no longer have room at their correctional facilities. The facility, a freestanding modular building, is expected to cost $300,000. Officials say the addition will generate $383,000 a year if it is filled to capacity with inmates from other counties.


The jail charges $45 a day per inmate, which helped generate $470,000 for the county in 2004. Butler, Fayette, Indiana and Mercer counties have all housed inmates at the facility.


A similar expansion was completed in April 2001 to alleviate overcrowding at the jail. Fayette County paid about $206,000 to house inmates in the building the following year, which covered the facility’s $205,000 construction costs.


The jail currently has a 136-inmate capacity, but typically houses fewer than 100 local inmates.