By GREG GROSS
Posted: 02/12/2015 08:53:53 PM EST
Updated: 02/12/2015 09:02:09 PM EST

The federal immigrant population at York County Prison has reached an all-time low, causing the county to lose $708,120 so far this year in funding it receives to house the detainees.

As of Tuesday, there were 480 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in the prison, warden Mary Sabol said at a prison board meeting. That's about 65 percent of the 750 federal detainees the prison in Springettsbury Township holds on average, she added.

"This is really as low as we've seen," she said.

In January, the prison held, on average, 560 ICE detainees daily, about 190 fewer than the county budgeted for, county spokesman Carl Lindquist said in an email.

However, alarm bells haven't rung just yet, county commissioners said, since the ICE population is constantly in flux and could rebound in the coming months. Officials also are looking to house other out-of-county prisoners, which would help supplement federal dollars.

"We go through this periodically at the start of the year," president Commissioner Steve Chronister said of the decreasing ICE detainee numbers. "We're not going to panic yet."

Revenue stream: The county receives a per-diem rate from the federal government of $83 per ICE detainee.

That money adds up. The county expects to receive $22.7 million in detainee fees this year, the same amount it budgeted in 2014, Lindquist said. That money goes toward operating the prison.

For 2015, the county budgeted $46.3 million, which includes operational costs and salaries but not health care and pension costs, to run the prison, he said.

At the January average ICE population of 560 detainees, the county would see a $5.8 million shortfall in the federal funds by year's end.

Sabol said the ICE detainee population has been decreasing across the nation the past few months because of the immigration policy President Barack Obama unveiled late last year.

Obama's executive actions limits deportations for millions of immigrants believed to be here illegally, which also keeps them from being detained.

ICE enforcement priorities shifted more towards national security, public safety and border security threats and away from individuals who have been in this country for years, developed ties to the community and do not pose a threat to public safety, a statement from ICE says.

Savings: To help curb costs as revenue dwindles, five dormitories in the prison were temporarily closed, Sabol said.

The county also was able to cut down on overtime for guards, and there is cost savings on food because there are fewer prisoners, Commissioner Chris Reilly said.

To fill some of the unused space in the prison, Sabol has been working to bring in additional state Department of Corrections inmates and prisoners from other counties where prison space is at a premium, said Commissioner Doug Hoke.

The warden said she reached out to Northumberland County officials, offering to house some of their prisoners after their prison in Sunbury was heavily damaged by a massive January fire. But Sabol said that wasn't logistically possible because of the distance — 80 miles, or about an hour and 20 minute drive, according to Google maps.

York County has, however, seen an influx in the number of state prisoners it houses. While the state per-diem isn't as high as the federal one, it is still revenue coming into the county.

In January, there was an average of 94 state prisoners in the county prison, 44 above what the county had projected.

The county receives $70 per day, per state prisoner, accounting for $203,980 in January, $95,480 more than what was projected.

The increase helps offset the downturn in the revenue generated from housing ICE detainees, Lindquist said.

Despite the decrease in federal money, Reilly said the money coming in is still better than nothing.

"Any dollar amount that comes in is a bonus for us," he said. "I view it as if we didn't have that arrangement, we wouldn't be receiving any funds."

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/breaking...-prison-county