HOLLIDAYSBURG — Prison Warden Matthew Hale asked the Blair County Prison Board for additional financial resources to incentivize inmate workers in his facility during a Thursday morning meeting.

He said that by increasing the wages inmates earn for working within the prison, it would help improve facility hygiene, lower the risk of theft and bring the county more in line with the inmate pay scale of comparable counties.

Dozens of inmates currently work jobs throughout the facility, often for as low as $1 a day, Hale said.

Hale was hired as warden in September, and has emphasized a “need for reform in several areas” of the prison, including inmate incentives, facility hygiene and staff recruitment and retention.

According to Hale, the board would need to increase the about $12,000 currently awarded to inmate wages up to about $40,000 annually to bring them in line with state averages.

In the prison’s kitchen, incarcerated workers earn $1 a day, while comparable counties pay their workers about $1.84 a day, he said.

An increase in kitchen worker pay would help reduce theft of food as the inmates “compensate themselves another way,” in lieu of appropriate financial remuneration, Hale said, which would realize a cost savings for the prison kitchen budget overall.

Hale also proposed expanding the number and variety of available positions for inmate employees to include supervised work release programs and facility janitor and maintenance staff roles.

Several former and current inmates have filed lawsuits against the prison in recent weeks alleging crowded, unsanitary conditions and a widespread rodent infestation.

County commissioner and board member David Kessling — himself a former prison warden — voiced his support for Hale’s proposals.

County Controller A.C. Stickel and Commissioner Amy Webster, both on the Prison Board, agreed that Hale’s idea should be explored further.

Webster said that it is a “really good time to start instituting some of these incentives” as Hale’s arrival signaled a period of transition for the prison.

According to Hale, the increased funding would allow three times the amount of current inmates to work around the prison.

Since the final budget work session for the commissioners is set for Friday morning, Kessling said that the request for increased funding was unlikely to be included in the 2026 county budget, but that he was happy to find other avenues to secure the funding, including through the 2027 budget next year.

Blair County President Judge Wade Kagarise suggested that allowing inmates to work off some percentage of their court fees and fines through prison jobs could be another potential incentive.

Kagarise also said, however, that he could not support an effort to make Blair County inmates some of the best paid in the state while courthouse clerks and other employees are still at the low end of the average pay range for their position.

“To say that we are underpaying (courthouse employees) now is false,” Kessling said, noting the comprehensive salary study completed last year that saw raises across the board for county employees, “and we are very proud that we did that.”

After the meeting, Kagarise clarified that he would like to see more information on the budgetary impact of the proposed wage increase and what benefit it could offer both inmates and the broader Blair County community before he supports the proposal.