 From the Desk of Dr. Tom Zeager Justice Mercy’s Ideas for New Proposed Lancaster County Correctional Facility 1. Change the Paradigm The building and landscape design (including the grounds) should have a more positive look inside and out. We the people, need to change the paradigm of how we think in terms of corrections. We need to rely less on punishment, and more on corrections. The money we spend up front in corrections will more than save on the money we spend by less repeat offenders or lowering our recidivism rate. It is Justice Mercy’s opinion that our present facility has about a 70% recidivism rate, when we could have a 20% rate if we would pay more attention to corrections. We the people do not want a repeat offender returning to our community. We need to teach the offender on how to be good and do good. 2. Beneficial for the Community The Correctional Facility should be productive and positive for inmates and the community. Too often we think an offender must go to prison 4-5 times before they’ll change. The reason for that is we don’t plan to change them the first time. In most cases this could be cut back to 1-2 times in a Correctional Facility, again, cutting crime and saving money. 3. Glaring Outside Lights Night lights should not glare onto neighboring properties. 4. Hiker Biker Trail Build a hiker biker trail around the property along the creek for the benefit of the Community. Along the biker hiker trail have picnic tables, playground equipment & possibly water fountains to give a positive experience for the community. Such recreational trails create family bonding, and where that is the case, children tend to be less involved in crime. Family recreation is a lot cheaper than prisons. Again, we’re trying to change the paradigm about how we the public think about corrections. 5. Bridge Across Conestoga Creek Build a bridge across Conestoga Creek to access Lancaster County Park for the benefit of the community. 6. Correctional Rooms in the Building: A. Day Reporting – Around half of the people that are now in County Jails would be better corrected by bringing them to a Day Reporting Center where they learn how to live and treat each other in a productive way. This could be done for 50% of the cost of prison, and the outcome would be three times better, which ultimately would create more public safety. Sometimes I wonder who is more ignorant, we who send people to prison without a plan to correct them, or those we send there. B. Counseling – for inmates on more wholesome ways to live. Let’s teach them how to be good and do good. C. PPS & Attorney Visitors Interviews – the State of PA has legally mandated that the PA Prison Society should send volunteers to County and State prisons to visit inmates. One of the reasons is to monitor present activities that may be illegal or abusive, which happens more often than anybody would like. These PPS visits need to be done where no one, including guards, can hear what the inmate is telling the PA Prison Society visitor. They should have open glass so that security can be maintained. Hearing an inmate explain how and what guard has beaten him up lately for no reason, should not be public information, unless mandated by the courts. It is understood why a guard would mistreat an inmate due to frustration, however that doesn’t make it legal or right. D. Job interviews with Employers – There should be rooms available where employers can sit down with inmates on a one-to-one basis and observe the potential of hiring a particular inmate. Employers should know they can come to the prison and interview inmates that might be recommended to them for hire. The Correctional Facility should make a sincere effort to monitor inmates who could be a potential employee of certain types of businesses and notify those Employers who might be interested. This means the Correctional Facility would keep a running list of potential Employers to notify. A big way to cut recidivism is for returning inmates to get a life sustaining job, place to live and a new set of positive friends. E. Chapel – should hold at least 250 inmates for worship and outside educational speakers. An inmate who is discipled on a just God on what is right and wrong, will again greatly cut the recidivism rate. Also, educational speakers will greatly help inmates to think and act in a more positive way to life’s challenges. A larger room of 250 attendees will make the speaker’s time much more productive. I have sat in large rooms with up to 1,000 inmates at State prisons, and I was never harmed. (I won’t say I was never afraid) So 250 shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not possible to remove all risk. F. A Gym – equipped for a full-size basketball court and other exercise games, to help build character. The old saying “idleness is the devil’s workshop” is certainly true in prisons. It’s also true that active participation in a positive environment is the genesis of good behavior. The question needs to be asked, do we want inmates sitting in their cell asking what they can do to break out, or what good they want to do when they get out? G. Exercise room – with equipment for up to 50 inmates at one time. Exercise is one major component of good health, equipping them for a positive change and less strain on guards. 7. Parking Parking should be provided for County employees and at least 50 spaces for visitor parking. Again, a major platform for correction and cutting recidivism rate, is community involvement. Upstanding people from the community could be screened and registered as educational speakers or individual counselors. Investment in these activities will greatly cut the recidivism rate and repeat offenders, creating public safety. Every time we have a repeat offense, we have another victim…it’s called crime. These are things we can do to change the way offenders think and live. Inmates who don’t change should experience something dramatic. 8. Community Partnerships Fenced in outside recreation for inmates and community baseball and basketball teams. We will not cut the recidivism rate without community involvement. Certainly, additional security would need to be provided when a baseball team comes in to play with inmates, but it will be cheaper and create more public safety through this venue. Contraband coming into the prison is an issue, but if we don’t solve the root problem of recidivism rate, having a sterilized prison won’t make a difference to the public. 9. Main Lobby/Entrance Large lobby to facilitate groups entering through security, which will make it easier for both the groups, and the security to operate efficiently. Our present lobby is way too small. 10. Inmate Evaluations Every inmate should be evaluated when entering the prison for correctional needs with a professional documented plan ordered for each inmate. This plan should be completed and given to the prisoner within ten days of entering the Correctional Facility. 11. Correctional Capacity The Correctional Facility should be built for 1000 inmates, and no more than two inmates per cell. Right now, we have about 700 inmates, and we used to have 1,300 inmates. The reason we had 1,300 inmates is because we didn’t process them in a timely manner, and we held them when we didn’t need to. If we had a Day Reporting Center, we could cut that population to 350. It is good to have the extra space in case there is a temporary need. Day Reporting is twice as effective as prison time and can be done for half the price. 12. Bail We should do away with the opportunity of bail—a judge should decide if the perpetrator is a flight risk or not. We have too many people in prison at $108/day who are not a flight risk. About 70% of the people in prison are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of anything. The savings in lowering the prison population would greatly outweigh the benefits of bail and save taxpayers several million dollars a year. This savings could go towards programs that teach and train offenders on how to be good. We have made our prison a debtor’s prison: a poor person sits in a cell awaiting trial because they can’t afford bail, while wealthy people bail themselves out when they should be in prison. Sometimes, when the bail bondsman bails people out and they don’t return for court, the bail bondsman doesn’t reimburse the court because they didn’t show up, nor does he go out and find them and bring them to court. 13. Open Hallways In Hallways, between the cell blocks, should be glass as much as possible for observation of inmates and create a healthier environment. 14. Large Kitchen Large Kitchen to expand the prison up to 2000 inmates. Should include space for training of food service for inmate certification. (ServSafe program) Too often when it comes time to expand our kitchen there’s no room to do so because is in the heart of the prison building leaving no room to expand. 15. Large Receiving Area Large receiving area for food and supplies to keep them in a secure and healthy manner. When the supply room isn’t organized, a delivery man could be putting things there that don’t belong in the stock room for an inmate to find later. 16. Intake Entrance Secure entrance for receiving inmates in and out. With expansion for up to 2000 inmates. Too often when we build the entrance there is no room for expansion that may be needed 20 years later. 17. Public Tours Correctional Facility should be designed for the public to tour it in an efficient manner. A good facility should be reviewed by the public in a professional manner on a regular basis—otherwise known as accountability. 18. Re-entry Program Correctional Facility should have a robust Re-entry program that connects the inmate to the community. Employers, housing, medical, churches and other non-profits should be involved. 19. Certified Re-entry Packet All inmates leaving the prison should have a Re-entry packet with a plan that they can show to Employers, Churches, and community groups to certify their correction. This packet should also include a DVD on pitfalls inmates might face when leaving the facility, as well as testimonials of past inmates and professional counselors. This too will cut back on recidivism. 20. Mottos Positive mottos on the walls would be helpful. When inmates are looking at bare walls it is not very inspiring. It would be a good motivation for them to have positive sayings for them to read when they walk back and forth from their day rooms and open spaces. Maybe we could have community groups sponsor these murals, mottos, and statements so there wouldn’t be a cost to the Correctional Facility. 21. Medical Unit The medical unit should be up to date and large enough to handle the needs of the inmates and staff, and again space for expansion. Maybe a few medical cells in the unit could be helpful. Again, the medical unit is often in the center of the prison and cannot expand if needed. 22. Break Room for Employees Break room should include able space for employees. Amenities available could be snacks, drinks, tv, video training, tables, and chairs that you can relax in and catch a 15-minute nap. Too often prison employees are required to work a double shift and a refreshing/relaxing break time would help employees to not act out in frustration because of extreme tiredness. 23. Communication Equipment & Cameras There should be communication equipment & cameras throughout the Correctional Facility and outside the walls which can be observed at several key locations inside the facility. 24. Security Pods Security pods should be located throughout the Correctional Facility that can be managed safely if a trouble should break out. 25. Restricted Housing There should be pods for restricted housing when inmates are uncooperative. These units should not be used long term, but the intention would be for up to a week. 26. Inmate Volunteer Program Continue the program designed for a volunteer coordinator to pick up a van load of inmates and take them to a non-profit or public organizations to mow grass, paint, repair fences or trails in the woods and do other projects for the benefit of the community, such as has been happening in the past. We should provide opportunities for offenders to do good. Dr. Tom Zeager, President of Justice & Mercy Please Post your comments We are interested in your opinon! If you would like a copy of this article-please send request to: office.justicemercy@gmail.com
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 From the Desk of Dr. Tom Zeager New Prison for LCP/ First Info Meeting September 21, 2022 Justice & Mercy’s Comments I very much appreciated the informational meeting that took place on September 21, 2022, at the Lancaster County Training Center. I was glad that around 30 people attended. Thank you for the good effort and good start. I’m looking forward to more meetings regarding the new correctional facility. 1. Spread the Net of info Gathering It appears the people planning the new prison are the same ones running the present system, which of course need to be included but I recommend the prison board spread a broader net for gathering info on what the new prison should look like. When the Consultants announced they were doing a needs assessment they said they were getting their assessment from law enforcement, the court, and the prison. This reminded me of more of the same trail them, nail them and jail them. We need to focus more on treatment. 2.We have great respect for many leading this cause Include other organizations and faith-based groups who are doing something to bring hope to the system. We have great respect for many of the present leaders on the committee. We again want to emphasize the need to be spreading a broader net that includes treatment people. We need to do more in terms of changing lives, giving hope, and teaching the inmates on how to be good and responsible people. More Treatment people involved in Planning I want to hit this point home that the input from the Prison Consultant seems like more of the same trail them, nail them and jail them. We need to do something to teach them a lesson on how to do good and be good. 3. Justice & Mercy Suggestions When the Consultants spoke about their needs assessment, I did not hear anything about the following: Alternate Sentencing Treatment Programs Counseling for the whole family of the offender How do we lower the recidivism rate? Day reporting Job Skills Job Placement Life Skills Affordable Housing Mentoring We encourage the committee to move away from the old saying trail them, nail them and jail them and move forward with providing the inmates the information and tools to empower them on how to be good and do good! 4. Bring Hope to the Equation Our goal should be to cut the recidivism rate to at least 25% and to do this we must start by bringing hope! Most of the people in prison do not have any hope and without hope they will ALWAYS recidivate and be repeat offenders. Our present recidivism rate is about 70% repeat the crime and do the time, which shows our system is broken but we can make improvements to fix it! At what point do we start planning on how to create public safety, change lives, and help empower them to become responsible people? I suggest we start now in the planning stage. I heard the people who spoke from the community speak on these issues, but I did not hear from the Consultant about these issues of treatment. It could be that it was mentioned but I didn’t notice it. In Lancaster County we have an abundance of treatment organizations. It’s time that we empower them to create public safety from faith based and otherwise. The government should be willing to partner with the private sector or possibly step aside and allow them to do what the government may not be able to do. 5. Some recommendations for the next meetings If we say that we are listening to the people, we should videotape the meeting and make it available to the committee and the public and publish it on the new prison website in some written form. It would be helpful if the Consultant prepared a handout at the beginning of the meeting stating what they heard from the community in the previous meeting. This will hopefully keep us from repeating what others have said, which will then make us be more concise and effective. In the Consultant’s handout, they should highlight the suggestions taken from the community that they are taking into consideration. This should speed up the process of understanding. I know undertaking this project is not easy and will take a lot of time and effort, but I believe if we put our best foot forward, we can accomplish some of the things listed above. I know it will not be perfect, but I ask that we at least try! 6. A Reason for Offenders to Change We should stop thinking about lock them up and throw away the key except for the offenders who make it clear that they are unwilling to change. Maybe the offenders who claim they don’t want to change need a reason to change—We should provide that reason! Dr. Tom Zeager, President Justice & Mercy Keeping you updated on the latest news If you would like a copy of this article please send request to:
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