Transport of Cambria County inmates to preliminary hearings resumes

EBENSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, Cambria County corrections officers have begun transporting inmates for preliminary hearings.

Inmates of the prison in Ebensburg and state correctional institutions outside the area have been able to virtually attend preliminary hearings at magisterial district courtrooms in Johnstown since 2020, according to our media partners at the Tribune-Democrat . This alleviated the need for officers to travel and kept some costs down.

“An increase is anticipated in the prison’s overtime costs due to transports,” Cambria County Prison Warden Christian Smith said Wednesday in a report to the Cambria County Prison Board.

The Cambria County President Judge and prison board member Linda Fleming said video conferencing for preliminary hearings had been conducted in accordance with law. It required inmates to waive their rights to be at the hearing in person, but it also presented problems that slowed the court, according to our media partners at the Tribune-Democrat.

While inmate transporting has returned as of July 8, video conferencing remains an option for a limited number of hearings. The change came following a July 2 meeting with stakeholders.

“We did it (transport) before. We’ll do it again,” Cambria County Prison Deputy Warden Craig Descavish said after a prison board meeting Wednesday.

The prison does have one other slight problem, hiring issues. Our media partners with the Tribune-Democrat said the prison is permitted to hire 90 full-time officers and 15 part-time officers. Warden Descavish said they currently have 89 full-time officers, but no part-time officers.

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Magisterial District judges Brian Subich and Kevin Price, who share a building in downtown Johnstown, have volunteered to coordinate their court schedules to reduce the weekly number of transports, according to Fleming. This will lead to less transport, even lower than what they were before the pandemic.

For more from our media partners at the Tribune-Democrat, visit their website .

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