Brad Mason, the sole candidate for McKean County Sheriff in next
month’s election, is asking taxpayers to voice their opinions on
the sheriff’s office possibly taking over the operations of the
McKean County Jail again.

“If you are interested in eliminating the waste in spending at
the jail and want to encourage the commissioners to go back” to the
sheriff being in charge of the jail, Mason said Wednesday, “write
letters and make phone calls to the commissioners. Write letters to
the editor.”

The New Directions Team of commissioners decided last year to
separate the sheriff’s department from the jail and named Dennis
Luther, former warden of the Federal Correctional Institution at
McKean, warden of the jail at the beginning of 2005.

Mason, a 24-year veteran of law enforcement, stopped by The Era
to discuss some problems he has seen with the operations at the
jail.

“In 10 months, in my opinion, there’s been minimal positive
change with extraordinary expense,” Mason said. “It’s not working.
It’s apparent that it’s not working because he’s resigning.”

Luther, who declined to speak to The Era Wednesday night, told
the prison board last Friday that he is ready to move on, but will
remain until they find a replacement. He pointed out that he had
taken the job on a temporary basis and had not intended to make it
a career.

The expenses to which Mason refers include an annual salary of
at least $39,000 for a newly hired deputy warden who he says has no
experience in a jail setting; an annual salary of $50,000 for
Luther who works a stipulated 200 days per year; and a life-skills
coordinator at the prison for $20 to $25 per hour.

“The taxpayers don’t want to pay for a rehabilitation center,”
Mason said. “A jail is a place to incarcerate people involved in
crimes. If people want counseling, they need to start seeking it on
their own. I don’t think taxpayers want to pay that for
inmates.

“The way they are running that jail is malarkey,” he added.
“We’ve got to get things back on track.

“I’m going after the warden’s job,” Mason said. “The sheriff, or
the sheriff-elect, should have the warden’s job.

“I’m willing to take over the jail, but I’m not going to do it
for free,” he said. He explained that even with him being
compensated for the warden’s duties as well as collecting a salary
as sheriff, it would still be a savings to the taxpayers.

“You won’t have to pay for two sets of benefits,” he explained.
“The $75,000 per year counselor will be gone.”

Mason added that a part-time counselor who serviced the jail
before seemed to work fine for the inmates at a lesser expense.

“You don’t need assistant wardens making $45,000 a year,” he
said. The current salary for the sheriff, which is an elected
office, a row office and the highest law enforcement officer in the
county, is about $43,000.

“We are not a Fortune 500 company,” Mason said.

Referring to Luther’s time as warden at FCI-McKean, Mason said
the federal prison and the county jail are different institutions
and Luther’s position differs.

“He’s so removed from the criminal element in the position he
was in,” Mason said. “He’s an administrator. Maybe it’s no fault of
his own. He’s not in the trenches.

“He wants to break the cycle of the criminal element,” he said,
referring to a quote from Luther in a past interview. “There’s been
a criminal element since time began. It might be a surprise to him,
but there’s no way he’s going to break it.”

While change can be a good thing, not all changes are going to
lead to positive consequences, Mason said. “Jail needs to be a
place where you don’t want to come back. There needs to be so many
restrictions on my life that I can’t handle it.

“I’m all for self-motivation and building a work ethic,” he
said.

The sheriff is an elected official chosen by the taxpayers, and
that should be enough criteria for the job of warden. “The
taxpayers and the constituents trust you.”