York County to put former jailhouse up for sale

ALFRED – York County commissioners have decided to put the old county jail up for sale.

The jail on Route 4 has become dispensable now that the county has a new $20 million facility about a quarter-mile down the road. The new jail, which opened last January, can house up to 270 inmates and includes a 38-bed female unit and a maximum-security unit.

The commission has notified all 29 towns in the county of its intent to sell the 30-year-old facility, which had a history of overcrowding and code violations and was the scene of inmate riots in 2001. A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for the commission’s meeting late this afternoon.

The former jail is nearly 20,000 square feet, and real estate agents have estimated its market value at about $500,000 to $600,000.

Commissioners and other county officials have explored several options for the building, including making it the new home of the York County Emergency Management Agency and the county’s communications center.

The agency’s director, Robert Bohlmann, said the old jail has more office space than the agency now has in the York County Courthouse. He said moving emergency management services would open up space in the courthouse for other county offices.

Bohlmann told commissioners at a meeting earlier this month that the building has potential, but it would take money to renovate it.

“We would be asking you to put a lot of money into it and it might still have issues,” he said.

In response, Commissioner Marc Reserve said now was not the time to put money into a building – particularly one wherein county officials don’t know what problems might be found.