Tate

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County Prison Warden Abbie Tate submitted a resignation notice Monday that took effect immediately, prompting reassignment of the warden’s duties to Deputy Warden Shaun Edmundson.

Blair County Commissioner Dave Kessling, who chairs the prison board, said Monday that he wouldn’t tie Tate’s resignation to last week’s inmate escape that remains under investigation.

But in light of ongoing issues at the prison, Kessling said that he wasn’t surprised by the warden’s resignation.

The county’s prison has a long list of issues and incidents associated with inmate overcrowding, aged equipment, ongoing maintenance, assaults, contraband, hooch and a lack of rodent control within the facility built in 1868-69, with additions and renovations in 1983, 1990 and 2004.

But not every issue is associated with the structure or inmate housing, as evidenced in May when former corrections officer Franklin Deshong was accused of falsifying his prison time card and getting paid for shifts he wasn’t working.

Court documents indicate that Deshong collected almost $7,000 more than he should have, resulting in charges of theft, receiving stolen property and tampering with records.

And last week’s escape, based on information available so far, indicates that an inmate hid inside a transport van while other inmates were dropped off inside the prison’s sallyport. After the van was parked outside the prison’s sallyport, the inmate was spotted walking along Mulberry Street, before he was captured near Blair Street.

Commissioner Laura Burke, who also sits on the prison board, said she had no information linking Tate’s resignation to last week’s inmate escape, which is part of an ongoing investigation.

But unlike Kessling, Burke said she was surprised to get the warden’s resignation notice submitted Monday morning by email.

“She didn’t give a reason,” Burke said.

The Mirror’s attempts to reach Tate on Monday were unsuccessful and a phone message was not returned.

Tate has been working 20 years at the county prison, with the last seven as warden. She accepted that post in mid-2018 after prior county leaders took steps to improve security at the facility, which included votes to increase staff and increase the amount of surveillance cameras.

Kessling also said that, when the prison board met in executive session Monday afternoon, the board accepted Tate’s resignation and agreed that Deputy Warden Edmundson would be interim warden.

“We’ll go through the steps of advertising the post,” Kessling added.

Edmundson, who has worked 17 years at the prison, is the facility’s deputy warden with the longest tenure, Kessling said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.