SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE: …The corrections system includes the 26 correctional institutions, 56 state-operated or contracted community corrections centers and a motivational boot camp. The combined population of these as of December was 51,512 inmates while estimates suggest a smaller number of 50,175 inmates next December, according to budget documents.
This marks a turnaround from projections in 2011 that the system would have to absorb an additional 3,500 inmates, Corrections Secretary John Wetzel told the House Appropriations Committee last week.
“We’ve literally needed to add a prison every year and a half,” said Mr. Wetzel referring to the growth rate in prior decades. “Now we’ve been clearly able to alter our pace, anticipating a need to expand capacity every 30 years or more.”… (more)
