Women's Residential Center Updates

We just attended another impressive meeting of the Potter County’s Women’s Residential Rehabilitation Center Advisory Board.

Directors reported on another eventful month at the facility on the Northern Tier Children's Home campus. Ten women have completed the treatment program and successfully re-entered society. Population is now at 11 residents, with another expected soon.

A project of the Commissioners and Human Services, it's the only center of its kind in the state and is being studied as a model for other county-based criminal justice alternatives. It houses non-violent offenders, many of whom are in need of substance abuse and/or mental health treatment, employability support, educational assistance and other services.

They're housed in a residential setting, where families are able to visit and participate in structured counseling sessions. Judge Stephen Minor and District Attorney Andy Watson, along with defense lawyers, confer to determine if a woman offender is eligible for admission.

State funding is covering the majority of costs. Additional operating revenue is coming from the admission of a limited number of out-of-county women. "Cost avoidance" is also part of the funding package. Potter County currently pays approximately $65 per day to send its female offenders to out-of-county jails.

Women’s Center director Melissa Gee (left)
confers with Phil Vaughn, chairman of the Northern Tier
Children’s Home Board of Directors,
and Deb Rudy, a district representative
for State Senator Joe Scarnati