Pocono News Section

New Luzerne County Prison Board Meets

New Luzerne County Prison Board Meets - Monday, October 19, 2009 at 5:40PM EST

Reported by: Andy Mehalshick
Monday, Oct 19, 2009 @ 05:40pm EDT
WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY -- Big changes are coming to the Luzerne County prison system. A new board is in place and that board that promises no more politics.

The prison has been a lighting rod for controversy, including questions about no-bid contracts and the hiring of employees who were politically connected.

A new seven member board now takes over. The new prison board met for the first time today. The members are not political appointments, but rather elected by the people from different offices. They include President Judge Chester Muroski, the District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll and the Luzerne County sheriff.

Eyewitness News spoke to Judge Muroski about the new direction of the prison. "There are several areas the court can assist. We can collect money we could not in the past. Plus some other things that we ordered from the prison have not been accomplished. Before we did not have a way to communicate, now we do," he said.

State lawmakers passed a law this past summer that mandated prison board reforms, basically taking "appointments" out of the process so political friends were not given board seats.