The Clarion County jail is well under budget for 2019 except in one area that Warden Jeff Hornberger said involves medical costs and, in particular, mental health counseling costs.
“We have seen an increase in the number of inmates who require mental health counseling,” Hornberger said Thursday at the monthly meeting of county’s Jail Inspection Board.
“Other counties are experiencing this as well,” he added.
“The corrections officers are not trained counselors so we have to provide counseling. There is a big need for psychiatric hospitals,” Hornberger said.
In October there were 198 inmate visits to a counselor, 23 inmate psychiatric doctor visits and seven inmates placed under a suicide watch.
Hornberger is working to reduce the health care costs at the jail. One way would be to have non-emergency X-rays taken at the jail, which would cut the cost in half.
The jail is currently paying about $90 per inmate exclusive of transportation for x-rays.
A mobile X-ray lab would come to the jail at a cost of about $40 per X-ray through a program offered by the Pennsylvania County Commissioners Association.
“This would also eliminate the transportation cost because the X-ray would be taken in the jail,” he said.
Even with the increased health cost the jail is well under the budget. With only a month and a half to go in the year, the jail has expended only 75 percent of its budget.
Medical expenses are at 96 percent of that line item.
“We may have to move some money from one account to another,” said Hornberger.
The 2019 budget for the jail was $2.6 million.