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<p>NANTICOKE &#8212; Don Williams has heard what closing two state prisons will mean economically to the areas in which the facilities are located.</p><p>But the potential loss of jobs and jeopardized school funding were not on Williams&#8217; mind on Tuesday.</p><p>&#8220;People&#8217;s lives are at risk,&#8221; Williams said, stressing the safety of corrections officers, inmates and the general public should be the primary concern.</p><p>Williams, the father of slain corrections officer Eric Williams, is the president of Voices of JOE, a group that attempts to give the families of corrections officers a voice. It gets its name from the first initials of three slain officers, including Nanticoke native Eric Williams.</p><p>On Tuesday night, the group hosted state Sen. John Yudichak and state Rep. Gerald Mullery for a roundtable at Luzerne County Community College on Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s plan to close two state prisons.</p><p>Early this month, the state Department of Corrections announced five prisons from which it will select two to close. The prisons are SCI Retreat in Newport Township, SCI Frackville in Schuylkill County, SCI Waymart in Wayne County, SCI Mercer in Mercer County and SCI Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. An announcement is scheduled to be made Jan. 26.</p><p>Eric Williams was stabbed to death by an inmate at USP Canaan, a federal prison, in February of 2013. Don Williams said three things stood out to him about the circumstances of his son&#8217;s death.</p><p>&#8226; Overcrowding at USP Canaan.</p><p>&#8226; Eric was alone at the time of the attack</p><p>&#8226; Eric was unarmed.</p><p>Don is concerned that closing two facilities will exasperate similar issues at state prisons and lead to more violent incidents.</p><p>The population of SCI Retreat is over 100 percent, according to a state Department of Corrections report from December 2016. The operational capacity for the prison is 1,104 beds. The emergency capacity for the prison is 1,220.</p><p>Mark Truszkowski, business agent for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, disputes the DOC contention of a decrease in the prison population.</p><p>&#8220;Where are the numbers coming from?&#8221; a clearly frustrated Truszkowski asked.</p><p>Truszkowski, Williams and Shane Fausey, vice president of Voices of JOE, voiced concern that moving inmates to another facility at capacity will &#8220;raise the bar for potential violence.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;If you deliberately overcrowd &#8230; it&#8217;ll be a cataclysmic event,&#8221; Fausey said.</p><p>A recent report from an audit done by state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said there were 4,198 violent prison incidents from January 2015 to March 2016. Inmate-on-staff assaults rose 10 percent and inmate-on-inmate assault rose 14 percent over the same time frame.</p><p>&#8220;My concern is they are going to look at moving people out of the system,&#8221; Williams said.</p><p>Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, who sat in the front of the room, said she has looked over the court cases her office is prosecuting this year and is fearful for where the inmates will be held.</p><p>County Manager C. David Pedri agreed with Salavantis.</p><p>&#8220;Retreat transports, picks up and houses prisoners overnight,&#8221; Pedri said, noting SCI Retreat&#8217;s willingness to work with the Luzerne County prison system.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Marcella Lendacky said her officers feel &#8220;relieved&#8221; when a corrections officer from SCI Retreat picks up a prisoner from Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s temporary holding cells.</p><p>The concern wasn&#8217;t just over inmates, though. It was also for the residents of Luzerne County.</p><p>Both Salavantis and Pedri are concerned about the &#8220;hit&#8221; Luzerne County will take if Retreat is on the chopping block.</p><p>Pedri said it&#8217;s roughly $90 a day to house state correctional inmates at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.</p><p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t had to take that burden on,&#8221; the district attorney said. </p><p>Mullery said he was bothered by the close to 1,000 people who will lose their job or be moved out of county if two Northeastern Pennsylvania prisons close. He noted the 400 individuals who work at Retreat as well as close to 400 others who live in the county but work at Waymart or Frackville.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to cause an increase in taxes,&#8221; Yudichak said, especially to the Greater Nanticoke Area School District.</p><p>Williams called on the federal representatives to write letters to the Wolf. He was hopeful the federal government will halt Wolf&#8217;s plan.</p><p>&#8220;The federal government has every right to put a stop to it,&#8221; Williams said, noting the closing of two prison could create civil rights issues for the inmates.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011817VoicesofJoe2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Voices of JOE president Don Williams speaks to correctional officers and their families Tuesday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011817VoicesofJoe2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Voices of JOE president Don Williams speaks to correctional officers and their families Tuesday night. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011817VoicesofJoe3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Corrections officers listen to a panel discussion about the closing of two state prisons. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011817VoicesofJoe3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Corrections officers listen to a panel discussion about the closing of two state prisons. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011817VoicesofJoe1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Mark Truszkowski, of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, questioned the state Department of Corrections decision to close two prisons at a roundtabe hosted by the Voices of Joe on Tuesday in Nanticoke. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL011817VoicesofJoe1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Mark Truszkowski, of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, questioned the state Department of Corrections decision to close two prisons at a roundtabe hosted by the Voices of Joe on Tuesday in Nanticoke. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>On the chopping block</p><p>The state Department of Corrections announced last week that it will close two of five prisons. The five prisons are:</p><p>&#8226; SCI Retreat in Hunlock Creek</p><p>&#8226; SCI Frackville in Schuylkill County</p><p>&#8226; SCI Waymart in Wayne County</p><p>&#8226; SCI Pittsburgh in Allegheny County</p><p>&#8226; SCI Mercer in Mercer County</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Father of Eric Williams speaks out against prison closures