By the time you read this, the former Susquehanna County Correctional Facility will likely be little more than rubble.
County officials hope new programs for formerly jailed people will rise from the dust and debris.
As demolition was underway Tuesday, the Susquehanna County Commissioners released a statement saying they plan to redevelop the site in South Montrose, Bridgewater Twp., for inmate reentry services and affordable transitional housing programs.
"If we don't break the cycles, what we do is keep spending more money and getting the same results over and over again," Commissioner Alan Hall told WVIA News.
Rising costs, declining population
County officials announced in March 2025 they planned to close the aging prison to save about $3 million a year.
The prison was designed to house more than 100 prisoners, officials said, but typically had only 20 to 40 inmates.
Built in 1994, the prison also needed "substantial and costly upgrades and repairs," not factored into the $3 million savings.
Engineers told county officials they would be better off building a new jail, which would cost about $75 million.
"Financing such a project over 20 to 30 years could have resulted in taxpayers paying more than $100 million in principal and interest," the commissioners said in their statement issued Tuesday.
"That decision saved taxpayers approximately $3 million during the first year alone, with projected savings of more than $60 million over the next decade," the statement added.
Hall said he asked county auditors to review figures from August 2025 through August 2026 and determined that the county spent $926,000 on prison-related expenses, including boarding inmates in other counties.
"That's our cost for housing in other counties ... [and we were] still paying some electric at the jail before we took it down, natural gas and the sewer and all that," Hall said.
"Our cost to run the jail was $4 million. So if I can spend a million dollars and get more help in Lackawanna County and Wyoming County, and not spend $3 million, that's a win for the taxpayers in this county," he added.
A new vision
The county says it plans to redevelop the property as a base of operations for the Rising Together Susquehanna County Reentry Coalition, and as a location for affordable transitional housing for eligible individuals returning to the community.
According to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, such county coalitions are made up of local stakeholders, including government and nonprofit agencies. They work to identify the needs of former inmates as they return to society.
"The issue that we struggle with the most in this county is the same problem that a lot of counties do: When you incarcerate somebody and when their time is up basically they take them to the front door, give them 35 bucks, kick them out the door, and say, 'Have a good life.' That doesn't work," Hall said. "Basically, what happens is these people end up right back where they came from."
In some cases, "we had people that were in and out of jail 20, 25 times," he said. "It just is a non-functioning system, so we started a reentry program in the county."
The state commission says it has encouraged and invested in the creation of County Reentry Coalitions since 2011, and in 2020 established minimum operating standards.
The agency also awards grants to help coalitions with planning, and expects a statewide reentry strategy will be created by early 2027.
Susquehanna County's coalition is seeking grants to build on both developments, Hall said.
"What they do is they take people that are coming out of incarceration, they help them to try and get gainful jobs, get them places to live, try and get them back on the track to become successful in life in itself ... so they don't end up back in jail again," he said.
Housing options in focus
Hall said the county also hopes the site might be able to be used to provide temporary housing for other people in need, including domestic violence victims, homeless veterans — and low-level offenders, many of whom may also suffer from mental health issues.
In the case of the low-level offenders, Hall said officials would like to work with the courts to give them the option of transitional housing instead of jail when possible.
"It's going to be five or six units, and they're all about 500, 600 square feet," he said. "You can go into these, and you're going to wear an ankle bracelet. You're going to be monitored by the probation department."
"But you're also going to have to get a job," Hall said. "We'll help you get a job. We'll help you teach you how to interview for the job, we'll get grants to provide transportation, because most of them don't have cars, they don't have licenses."
The next step: Once they're working full-time, the county would work with offenders on their budgeting skills and begin charging rent on an increasing scale until they can be transitioned into a regular rental property.
"This approach is designed to offer accountability and structured support—not free housing. It gives individuals an opportunity to become self-sufficient while reducing costs to taxpayers," the commissioners' release said.
What's next?
Hall said it was too early Tuesday to say how long redevelopment of the site would take and what it would look like.
"The main thing right now is get that [prison] down, get it cleaned up, get the ground to settle. The next step, of course, will be looking at some some architectural drawings to see what we can do as far as layout," he said.
Officials are preparing to write grant requests, hoping they could be awarded next year.
"We can't just incarcerate our way out of this problem," Hall said. "Throwing people in jail, locking them up, and letting them back out — it doesn't get any better. So those are the programs we're looking at trying to do."
As of Tuesday afternoon, meanwhile, the old jail was nearing oblivion.
"I think probably in another hour, it'll be all on the ground," Hall said.
