Economics, maintenance, more: See the full Rockview, Quehanna closure report
READ MORE
Pennsylvania prison closures
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has announced that it will move forward with a proposal to close Rockview state prison and Quehanna Boot Camp. The move is aimed at saving tens of millions of dollars but will affect the lives of hundreds of workers in central Pennsylvania, as well as the local economy.
Expand All
At 1,223 pages, it would take Best Buy’s bestselling printer nearly an hour to churn out the state Department of Corrections’ final report that recommended the closure of Rockview state prison and Quehanna Boot Camp — assuming it doesn’t jam.
Put another way, it’s about four times as many pages as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” But if you kick back, relax and work your way through the document, you’re likely to come across some interesting data points.
Start at page four, where the DOC said it would cost about $450,000 alone to switch outbuildings on Rockview’s property to Benner Township state prison’s phone system.
Skip ahead two pages and you’ll learn the DOC expects the local economies to lose $6.9 million annually from payments to local vendors. For each Rockview employee that moves from the area, the economy would lose $167,000 annually. That number sits at $190,000 for Quehanna employees.
Wondering how much the state anticipates paying to maintain the two mothballed facilities? Pages 20 and 21 have your answer: About $2.2 million annually.
You can also find — on page 27 — that about 41% of Rockview’s staff have a home address in Centre County. The remaining 59% come from 13 other counties. About 70% of Quehanna’s employees are from Clearfield County.
That’s just a smattering of the takeaways that can be gleaned from the report, which can be read in its entirety below.
