The George W. Hill Prison came a step closer last week to being a public prison again after being privately run for 30 years, writes Vinny Vella for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Delaware County Council voted unanimously to commission a study to see how to convert it back to public hands.

The Delco prison is the only privately run county prison in the state, run by the GEO Group out of Florida.

“The idea of any organization viewing maintaining people incarcerated as being a source of recurring revenue, that doesn’t work. That doesn’t work for what our interests are, which is to rehabilitate folks and to work as a community to get people back on their feet,” said County Councilman Kevin Madden.

A study  last year estimated it will cost $1 million to make the prison public again.

GEO has a five-year $259 million contract with the county. It covers salaries and benefits for prison staff, legal liability, food and medical service at the prison.

Madden pointed to five heroin overdoses, including one fatality, along with reports of abuse and racist behavior by prison workers that prompted a move toward de-privatization.

Read more about returning public control to the county prison here.

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