Carbon changing psychiatric services provider for prison

Carbon County’s officials are moving forward with a change in psychiatric services at the county prison.

On Wednesday, the county prison board voted to recommend to the board of commissioners that they enter into an agreement with Ethos Clinic of Emmaus for psychiatric services at the prison, starting Nov. 1.

Warden Timothy Fritz said the county has an agreement with St. Luke’s Gnaden Huetten Campus that wasn’t due to expire until 2019. However, hospital officials said they would be willing to terminate the agreement because St. Luke’s is not interested in continuing to provide the service.

New rates at Ethos will be $150 per hour for a psychiatrist and $125 per hour for a physician assistant. Services are approximately four hours a week through Oct. 31, 2020.

The action will now go to the board of commissioners, who also sit on the prison board, for final approval.

In other matters, the board voted to recommend to commissioners that they enter into an agreement with the Pocono Counties Workforce Investment Area Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act on-the-job training agreement because some of the people being hired to full-time positions at the prison may be eligible to have 50 percent of their training costs reimbursable to the county.

Fritz said four eligible people are employed at the prison, with an additional one who was just hired.

He also reported that the inmate population as of Wednesday was 223 with 48 of those being women.

“We’re starting to see a slight increase in population,” Fritz said, noting that police and probation are executing warrants.