County Commissioners honor outstanding jail efforts in Lycoming and Tioga Counties

HARRISBURG -- Lycoming and Tioga counties both recently earned recognition as recipients of the Jail Overcrowding
Best Practices Award by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) for their respective jail
and leadership efforts for implementing best practices that resulted in reducing county jail populations and
overcrowding issues. This is the second year that CCAP has presented the awards.

During a formal award presentation held in State College, Tioga County received an award this year for
its County Prison in the small county category. The Lycoming County Prison was recognized by CCAP during
each of the past two years for excellence among all small county facilities. In 2009, Lycoming County won the
award and this year, the Lycoming County Prison was recognized as Runner-Up.

Each award winner was required to describe how their project reduced the jail population or led to better
control. Data demonstrating the success was also required. Counties were required to detail why solutions were
needed and what had prompted the county to undertake such a project. The counties had to demonstrate how
various parties within the community and criminal justice system were a part of the process and the solution.

Kevin DeParlos, Lycoming County Prison Warden, credited its criminal justice system “best practices”
with being a true “system-team” effort. Warden DeParlos said, “the County uses an extensive array of effective
programs consisting of a Pre-Release Center program for work release and work crew offenders, community
service programs, a specialized supervision program for mentally challenged and ill offenders, various specialty
courts such as drug court, DUI court and mental health court, as well as supervised and intensive supervised bail
programs, global positioning and alcohol monitoring programs. Additionally,” he added, “Lycoming County
experiences excellent communication between all components of the criminal justice system and our effectiveness
continues to be directly correlated to the collaborative effort of the systems’ participants.”

According to Scott Martin, Lancaster County commissioner and chair of the CCAP Committee on County
Criminal Justice System Best Practices for the 21st Century, “these awards play an extremely valuable and
important role in promoting best practices of county jails and in helping the counties to find alternatives to the
costly solutions of building new jails to deal with increasing jail populations” Commissioner Martin saluted the
efforts of both Tioga and Lycoming Counties “in being innovative pioneers in meeting the challenges that all
county jails are facing as costs increase and inmate populations swell. We hope other counties will follow these examples and bring these solutions or others to their counties."

Commissioner Jeff Wheeland, who serves as President of the Lycoming County Prison Board noted “the
Prison’s recognition by CCAP in two successive years, combined with the outstanding inspection rating the
Lycoming County Prison earned during its annual inspection by the Department of Corrections earlier this spring
are testimony to the exceptional efforts of Warden DeParlos and the quality staff at the Prison and Pre-Release
Center. It is extremely commendable to have earned this recognition two years in a row.”

CCAP is the voice of county government, a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan Association representing
Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. CCAP membership includes the county commissioners, council members, county
executives, administrators, chief clerks and solicitors. CCAP strengthens the counties’ abilities to govern their
own affairs and to improve the well-being and quality of life for every Pennsylvania resident.

For more information on the county overcrowding project, visit the CCAP Web site at www.pacounties.org.