Prison Again Before Delco Council — Delaware County (Pa.) Council, Feb.21, approved a three-year contract with BSI Construction LLC for construction management services at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility.
The amount is not to exceed $1,265,000.
Prison maintenance was an issue at the Feb. 7 council meeting. A large contingent of prison personnel — many in uniform — said there were thousands of OSHA violations at the facility. They described a jail where locks didn’t work and prisoners was tasked to fix them. Did they? Apparently not. They did use the materials they were given to make shivs, though, council was told.
At this meeting, former corrections officer Christine Weiss of Glen Mills told council that she was forced to resign after she followed prescribed policy against the wishes of her superiors.
She wanted answers as to why this was allowed to happen. Ms. Weiss said that she emailed Councilman Kevin M. Madden, who chair’s the Jail Oversight Board, but did not get a response.
Kimberly Brown of Colwyn also spoke out about perceived attempts to silence her regarding prison matters. She said that Madden refused to read her email at the previous meeting of the Oversight Board which was held via Zoom due to snow. The reason for the refusal was because she did not include her exact address.
She noted that speakers at the council meeting are not required to state their exact address.
Ms. Brown played a recording of comments Madden made at the meeting. She said she was very mad at him because she had supported him in his election due to his promise of prison oversight.
She said she now thinks he is “protecting certain people at the prison.”
Madden said he doesn’t respond to queries about personnel matters and that those commenting before the Jail Oversight Board are required to give their full address.
Prison Again Before Delco Council