Alle-Kiski Pavilion in Arnold may become halfway house for federal inmates

The owners of the Alle-Kiski Pavilion, a halfway house for state inmates that recently closed on Arnold’s Fourth Avenue, said they are considering reopening as a halfway house for federal inmates.

Alle-Kiski Pavilion, owned by the GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., closed because of state Department of Corrections budget cuts in late September, according to Monica Hook, vice president of GEO Care strategic marketing.

GEO Group is not committed to opening such a facility for federal inmates but is “exploring options” and has not yet decided how its Alle-Kiski site will be used, Hook said Thursday.

If GEO would enter into a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Hook said, the new residents at the Alle-Kiski facility would “receive individualized treatment, programming and employment assistance designed to support successful community reintegration.”

The facility has a capacity to take in 95 residents, she added.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons program is similar to one the Alle-Kiski Pavilion had for state inmates since 1990, she said.

GEO Group sent a letter to Arnold officials Oct. 2 seeking information about using the pavilion as a “residential re-entry center” for federal offenders being released into the area, according to Rick Rayburg, Arnold Community Development director.

“I don’t believe it will need city approval,” said Rayburg, who said he has consulted with the city solicitor.

Rayburg said he still wants to conduct a commercial building inspection.

The company was considering opening the federal inmate facility in late 2020, Rayburg said.

Arnold Mayor Karen Peconi and Joe Bia II, a councilman who is running for mayor in the Nov. 5 election, didn’t return calls for comment.

Arnold police Chief Eric Doutt said he was hoping the building, a former elementary school, would be sold and used for a more beneficial use to the city, such as a business or apartment building.

Doutt said his department had to deal with drug issues and overdoses at the former facility.

Doutt said he’d want to have some input on what federal prisoners are placed in the building but doesn’t believe he has any authority on that point. He said he hasn’t spoken with anyone at GEO Group about it.

“I don’t know what kind of prisoners they’re talking about,” he said.

Doutt said federal inmates may be less dangerous than the ones coming from the state system.

“I don’t think it would be any worse than it was,” he said.