Blair County to install more cameras at Central Court building
State grant will fund devices at facility where corrections officer shot in 2021
Trending
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- Blair County is expected to secure a state grant of almost $19,000 to put toward the installation of additional surveillance cameras in the Central Court building where a county prison corrections officer was fatally shot in 2021.
Court Administrator Sam Dunkle told commissioners Thursday that plans call for installing cameras in areas used for holding inmates awaiting court proceedings at 615 Fourth St.
There are no cameras in the holding area where corrections officer Rhonda Russell was shot on Nov. 17, 2021, before being transported to UPMC Altoona, where she was pronounced dead.
While Central Court has surveillance cameras in other locations including hallways, Dunkle said the grant will put the county in a position to install more hallway cameras to increase the amount of surveillance.
"This will definitely enhance our security," Dunkle said.
Commissioners Dave Kessling, Amy Webster and Laura Burke approved Dunkle's request to submit the grant application through the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
If the review process moves forward as anticipated, Dunkle estimated that the installation should be completed before the end of the year.
The hallway cameras in use at Central Court on the day Russell died captured video of inmate Christopher Aikens taking Russell hostage after he exited a restroom.
Russell was escorting him at the time toward the holding area for inmates.
The video recording, played during a July 2022 pre-trial hearing, showed Aikens attacking Russell and taking her gun as he forced her into the holding room where inmates await court hearings. The hallway camera video also captured a responding Altoona Police Sgt. George Bistline at the entrance of the holding room with his gun drawn. Bistline, who fired the only shot, mistakenly struck Russell.
Aikens is currently serving a life in prison sentence based on his guilty plea in late 2023 to second-degree murder and related charges.
While he may be eligible to seek resentencing since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in March, struck down mandatory life imprisonment sentences for second-degree murder convictions, court records state that Aikens has not yet made that request.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.