Using modular units to house Mercer County's overflow jail population is absolutely out of the question, District Attorney James P. Epstein said Monday.

Last week, during a heated discussion of the county's budget woes, county Commissioner Olivia M. Lazor said she wanted to look at putting some of the overflow jail population in prefabricated, modular jail cells instead of spending money to send the inmates to other counties' jails.

The money saved by buying the units could offset the county's budget shortfalls and trim a proposed 3-mill tax hike for next year, she said.

At a prison board meeting Monday, members discussed the idea, which Commissioner Kenneth A. Seamans said was "blown out of proportion" when Mrs. Lazor proposed it at last week's commissioners meeting.

County Controller Thomas W. Amundsen said using modular units to hold regular inmates would be "ridiculous."

The units are not built for the same level of security as the county jail, but could be used for work-release inmates, Warden Jeffrey P. Gill said.

Gill said he was looking at the basics of acquiring a modular unit.

"We are looking at where we could put it, and how to hook it into the (Mercer) borough's water and sewage systems," Gill said. Another concern of using a modular unit, Gill said, is the cost of the five to 10 guards it would take to staff it.

Cambria County is building a modular unit with 40 beds to augment its jail space at a cost of about $300,000, Gill said.

The board directed Gill to find out if a modular unit could be linked with Mercer's water system.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at:

ateutsch@sharonherald.com