For the first time since last summer, inmates at the Clarion County Jail may have visitors, participate in the work-release program and appear in court.
The county’s jail inspection board this week approved opening the work-release program and, through an earlier e-mail vote, opened visitation at the jail last week.
“Visitation has started up again. Last week, we started by allowing 10-minute visits once a week,” Warden Jeff Hornberger said.
During normal times, the warden said, visits were a half-hour.
“We would like to open it back up, but I think it is a little early right now,” Hornberger said.
The kickoff for remote visits will be Tuesday. The inmates are charged by the minute for the half-hour.
The work-release program was reopened with stipulations.
“We don’t have any issues with the work-release program, as long as the person is fully vaccinated prior to going out to work,” Hornberger said. “That way, they will be protected and the facility will be protected.”
Hornberger said if the inmate is not vaccinated, the jail could help them get vaccinated.
If the inmate had been vaccinated prior to entering the jail, he said, it would be a “win, win for everybody.”
Common Pleas Court Judge Sara Seidle-Patton raised the question of an inmate who entered the jail having only the first shot of the vaccine. In that case, Clarion County Commissioner Ted Tharan said, the Sheriff’s Department could transport the inmate to the inoculation center.
If the inmate had not started the inoculation process prior to incarceration, it could take as long as five weeks to complete the two-shot cycle and be eligible for work release.
Tharan said after the first shot, people are 80% protected and fully vaccinated after the second shot.
Clarion County Sheriff Rex Munsee expressed concern that if prisoners were to be forced into taking the shot for work release, their “free choice” would then be “steamrollered.”
Tharan said “it is our choice” as to whether prisoners are allowed to go to work.
Tharan said the idea is to keep prisoners employed so they can pay their fines and become a functioning part of society.
For the first time in several months, Hornberger said, Plea and Sentence Court was face-to-face. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the cases of inmates at the jail had been adjudicated remotely.
“I think even the inmates were excited,” he said. “I think they were looking forward to just getting out of the jail for a while.”
Seidle-Patton said the court is still going with a staggered schedule to reduce the number of people in the courtroom at one time.
“I think it is good to have them back in person,” she said. “It makes for a more effective plea and sentence hearing.”
Seidle-Patton said she hopes to restart jury trials in May.
“We do have a backlog of trials,” she said.