Sen. David Argall (R-Schuylkill) has introduced legislation that would make it more difficult to close prisons in the commonwealth, and would require there to be a year-long public study and a hearing schedule. The PLS Reporter sat down with him to find out more about this piece of legislation.

Making his bi-weekly appearance on KDKA 1020 AM’s morning show with Larry Richert and John Shumway, Gov. Tom Wolf defended the process being used to vet the closure of two state correctional institutions.

“In the past, as I understand, what would happen is the Secretary of Corrections would say ‘We are going to open this prison or close that prison,’ and boom, that was it,” he said. “This time, I thought in the interest of transparency, say we need to close two prisons and here are five we’ve narrowed the list down to the prime candidates and we’re going to make a decision about that by January 26^th.”

Three days before the Wolf administration is set to announce the shuttering of two state correctional institutions, the Senate Republican and Democratic Policy committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a joint hearing to discuss and learn of the potential impacts the closures could have on the state and local communities.

Citing cost-saving measures in response to the state budget deficit, five facilities are on the list of potential closures, which are slated to occur by June 30, 2017: SCI Mercer in Mercer County, SCI Retreat in Luzerne County, SCI Frackville in Schuylkill County, SCI Waymart in Wayne County and SCI Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. 

The heads of three Senate committees stated Wednesday that they will be scheduling hearings in the coming weeks to vet the recent potential impact of the recently announced prison closures.

Late last week, the Department of Corrections announced the coming closure of two state prisons and released a list of five potential closures.

Speaking on KDKA 1020 AM’s morning show, Gov. Tom Wolf gave a glimpse into his February 7 budget address saying he will unveil his plan to reimagine state government in his FY 2017-2018 budget proposal as the means to bridge the deficit gap.

Gov. Wolf also reiterated his pledge to not balance his budget proposal using increase in the personal income or sales tax.

“I think what the citizens of Pennsylvania really want is for us to figure out how to reimagine government and make it live within its means; do the things that government should do to make middle class lives better, to make Pennsylvania better, but do it within our means,” he told morning show host Larry Richert and John Shumway. “That is what my administration is trying to do and I’ll unveil my proposals in my February 7 budget address.”