In other news from the prison, Hornberger told board of inspectors members they would have to come up with approximately $400 to pay for the county’s Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification services.

According to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, SAVIN allows Pennsylvanians, including victims of crime, their family members, law enforcement, and the community at large to register to be notified of an offender’s release, transfer, or escape from a county prison.

Anyone interested in the program can go to the system’s webpage at www.pacrimevictims.state.pa.us.

A news release from PCCD stated that between August of 2007 to Sept. 26 of this year, 2,372 phone notifications and 2,571 email notifications have been sent to those who have registered with SAVIN in the 39 counties where it is presently available.

PCCD expects all 63 counties with prisons to have the system by the end of this year.

The Clarion County prison had received the system and its equipment free of charge from PCCD about a year ago. The county must now pay 25 percent of the fee for its continued service for 2009. The rest of the money will come from a PCCD grant.

That amounts to about $400, Hornberger said.

That amount will increase by 25 percent in subsequent years, to a final figure of around $1,600. The amount owed is based on a figure of four cents per bed per day at the prison. Clarion County Corrections Facility has 120 beds.

“Four hundred dollars is cheap for the peace of mind it (SAVIN) offers,” prison board chair and County Commissioner Donna Oberlander commented.

“It also helps with the requirement for the victim’s bill of rights,” county District Attorney and board member Mark Aaron stated.

Hornberger noted Clarion County has a relatively small price to pay when compared to larger prisons like Allegheny County , which has 2,800 beds.

Hornberger said he thought maybe the fee could be split between the prison and the district attorney’s budgets.

County commissioner and prison board member Dave Cyphert suggested the fee could possibly be paid for by inmates’ supervision fees.

In other business, Hornberger said the prison is operating at 82 percent of its budget as of Oct. 31, with medical costs being the only problem.

“We’ve had some medical issues the last couple of months,” he noted. The warden’s report states that the medical expenditures for the prison are at 87 percent of the budgeted amount as of Oct. 31.

Hornberger said the prison averaged 92 inmates in October, compared to 85 inmates a year ago, and 103 last month.

He noted that the prison was preparing four inmates for the GED test administered Dec. 1.

The warden also noted that the county hosted a hostage training at Clarion University on Oct. 30. The training was attended by about 90 people from the state police, state correctional facilities, other county prison systems, and local police agencies including Clarion Borough, Knox, and New Bethlehem. Aaron also attended the training.

Deputy Warden Shannon Dugan told the Clarion News Warden John Prebish from Cambria County Prison was on hand to guide and advise the attendees through a real-time hostage situation.

Prebish was the incident commander back on Sept. 23, 2006 when Torone Dixon, an inmate in Cambria County took corrections officer Ross Morelli hostage at the prison.

Dugan said Prebish went through the situation from beginning to end, including negotiations and the final entry of the cell block that ended in Dixon being killed by officers.

“The training was part of our emergency preparedness training,” Dugan commented.