Praise for the prison

To the editor: I saw an amazing thing on my way to Pike County Correctional Facility last Thursday morning. I am one of the volunteers who goes to the facility twice a week to counsel, encourage and guide men who have been incarcerated for their addictive, self destructing behavior. As I was driving up Route 739 on my way to PCCF, I noticed several men cleaning the ditches along the sides of the roadway. As I came closer to the facility, I saw several PCCF employees joining the inmates cleaning up the ditches, roadways and grassy areas leading up to the prison. I recognized one as Assistant Warden Robert Mclaughlin and he was joined by several other staff members. Several hours later at lunch I saw that Warden Craig Lowe’s staff were wearing jeans and work cloths and realized that they were the people I had seen earlier in the day cleaning up the roadways and areas around PCCF. For anyone who has never seen Pike County Correctional Facility, I can bear witness that this facility is the cleanest in all of the state of Pennsylvania and I would think the rest of the country. The warden and his staff are doing extraordinary work in the lives of people, and these lives are being changed for the better. The amazing thing I realized is that PCCF is helping pike county be a beautiful place to live. A place that is usually looked down upon by the public is actually helping the community increase in property value by keeping the neighborhood and facility clean and beautiful and teaching men and women that there are better ways to live their lives. I am sure there are others who have seen how the warden, his staff and the inmates are helping to make our county beautiful, safe and a great place to raise our families. There is one, I am convinced who will one day say to these mighty men and women “well done my good and faithful servant”! Michael J. Neel Milford