Quick Take:
Lebanon County Correctional Facility hit a record-low population of 246 inmates in February, down from an average of 286 between 2021 and 2024, due to expanded diversionary programs and increased use of house arrest.
The prison population at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility recently hit an all-time low.
In mid-February the population stood at 246 inmates and the average daily population for January was 259, according to warden Tina Litz. That’s down since Litz became warden in 2021.
Litz said the average daily population between 2021 and 2024 stood at about 286 inmates over that period, with population peaks in both 2021 and 2024 at 297 prisoners.
A number of factors are contributing to this lower number, according to several county officials.
Diversionary programs
“Lebanon County has expanded its diversionary courts/programs: Drug Court, Veteran’s Court – video court,” wrote Litz in an email to LebTown.
Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf agrees with Litz’s assessment about the county’s diversionary court programs lowering prison population figures.
“We have more diversionary programs in existence today than we did in years past. Defendants who would otherwise face incarceration are now eligible for treatment courts such as DUI Court, Drug Court, and Veterans’ Court,” Hess Graf wrote in an email. “These Courts focus on treatment and rehabilitation for low-level, non-violent offenders. This has contributed to lowering the population of incarceration from the criminal justice perspective. We still incarcerate violent offenders, child predators, sexual offenders, and/or people with a long history of criminal activity on a near-always basis.”
Read More: Lebanon County’s DA’s office offers redemption over incarceration
House arrest and restrictive conditions
One of the biggest influencers in the prison population has been the ongoing use of house arrest – especially for non-violent offenders – that was implemented heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to both Litz and Audrey Fortna, director of Lebanon County Probation Services.
“During COVID, the judges started using house arrest instead of incarceration,” said Fortna. “And after COVID, they still seem to be utilizing house arrest. I wouldn’t say that it has returned to what it was pre-COVID, but I do think the judges sometimes will use house arrest instead of incarceration, so they are now doing that.”
Fortna noted another factor that recently came into play.
“Also in that timeframe, probationary sentences with restrictive conditions came about to replace intermediate punishment, so we’re getting individuals who have a sentence of probation with a restrictive condition of house arrest or they are getting credit for in-patient treatment, and that will count as a restrictive condition. We’re starting to see that happen more,” Fortna said.
“I believe Lebanon County has opted to offer more house arrest. This began during COVID, and I believe (those) numbers are steady,” Litz wrote. “MDJs (Magisterial District Judges) are sentencing more to house arrest.”
Fortna believes house arrest – which includes an offender having to wear an electronic monitoring device – remains a highly used form of punishment for non-violent offenders to keep them out of prison.
“I would say our number of individuals on house arrest are higher than they were pre-COVID,” she said, emphasizing she was not speaking on behalf of the county court system. “In addition to the judges using house arrest instead of incarceration, we’re seeing an increase with MDJs utilizing house arrest more. For example, driving under suspension summaries. The house arrest numbers have gone up, so in the case of the MDJs, the sentence is like 30 or 60 straight days of house arrest and then the individual is done with us.”
Fortna noted that if the sentence involves probation with restrictive conditions as set by the court, then there’s a 12-month probationary period including two months that will contain a restrictive condition of house arrest.
“So the individual must complete the first two months on house arrest, then the remainder of that probationary term is served on regular probation,” she said.
Act 44 changes probation and parole
Litz and Fortna cited implementation of Act 44, which concerns probation and parole, as contributing to lower prison numbers.
“Parole legislation has changed the violation process. Act 44 of 2023 keeps folks potentially in the community longer,” Litz wrote.
“We also have early termination that’s been in effect for years,” Fortna said. “Act 44 of 2023 passed recently and will be fully implemented this June. But early termination has impacted us and will continue to impact us maybe at a greater rate with the implementation of Act 44.”
The commonwealth’s website states Act 44 “mandates that probation conditions be the least restrictive necessary to promote rehabilitation and public safety. This means that probation officers must tailor supervision requirements to the individual, considering their specific needs and circumstances.”
A focus on treatment to reduce recidivism
Litz told LebTown that 69 percent of the prison population currently has a mental health need and that 24.5 percent of new commitments have a drug or alcohol dependency.
A high number of non-violent crimes are committed by individuals who have drug dependency, according to James Donmoyer, director of the Lebanon County Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
The rise in opioid use and its addiction has contributed to greater focus on treatment.
“Our goal is to get them started in treatment while they are there (in prison), whether that be 25, 30 days because we know they are going to get out,” he said. “If we can reach them while they are there and get them into treatment, the chances are better that they won’t return (to prison).”
Donmoyer said treatment is a better option and a different approach to “sentencing, sitting inmates (without treatment) and then releasing them out of jail, only to go back to the same habits they did before they went into prison.” A sentence that doesn’t include some form of treatment for drug addiction is one that’s more likely to lead to prison recidivism, he added.
Donmoyer’s department recently asked and received permission to apply for a second round of opioid funding through the commonwealth as part of the state’s settlement of a lawsuit with drug manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.
Lower crime rates in Lebanon County
Another factor has been the drop in the crime rate in Lebanon County – a trend that has been ongoing for decades here and across the commonwealth, according to Pennsylvania State Police statistics.
Read More: Lebanon County crime rates continue to drop, reflect state and nationwide trends
The number of crimes investigated by state police in Lebanon County was 1,692 in 2023 vs 1,480 in 2024, according to the state’s Uniform Crime Reporting System’s website.
Hess Graf noted in her email that crime is down in Lebanon County since 2023. Lebanon County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth also told LebTown that crime is lower across the Lebanon Valley.
Hess Graf wrote, “The past year to year and a half has shown a decrease in the number of crimes committed countywide. A decrease in crimes inherently means a decrease in the inmate population.”
“It (the prison population) has been going down since COVID, and I do believe those diversionary programs are part of the reason for the prison population to be lower,” said Wolgemuth. “Also, the fact that crime is down. The data from the state is irrefutable.”
Fewer inmates, lower costs?
Whether there are actual cost savings for having a lower prison population is hard to ascertain. For example, certain prisoners – especially sex offenders – have to be segregated from others, and that requires correctional officers to handle a lower ratio of criminals, according to Wolgemuth.
Litz noted that any potential “costs savings and expenses just get shuffled to expanded operations and unfunded mandates.”
“Fewer inmates but increased tasks associated with the profile of the incarcerated population that we house,” she wrote. “(We’re) attempting to climb down from a 30 percent staffing vacancy so the correctional officer mandates are not as high.”
She also noted that “expanded operations to meet a 2025 modern corrections approach requires staff, especially when working in a correctional facility that was not built for modern day correctional operations.”
Litz added that inflation is also taking a bite out of the correctional facility’s budget.
Violent crime means prison time
One thing that is clear that several officials emphasized: certain criminals, especially violent offenders, will be placed in prison.
“Our citizens should know we seek incarceration whenever it is appropriate,” Hess Graf wrote. “For some criminals it is the only way to ensure they will not commit another offense and/or hurt someone else. Homicides, assaults, child abuse, and sexual offenses are examples of cases wherein we seek incarceration. We consider the safety of the community as the ultimate factor and work everyday to protect the people who live here.”
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