New Prison Not the Answer

A new prison is not the answer for Lancaster County, the participants at Thursday's Crime Summit were told.

"If you build it, they will fill it. That's not the answer," Robert Siemasko, the Lancaster County Deputy Warden of Treatment Services said. "People need hope."

Siemasko delivered an impassioned presentation to those present. He explained that the average sentence at Lancaster County Prison is 89.9 days. He said that to get people to stop re-entering the prison, "they need a mentor. They need lots of stuff."

"We didn't win the war on crime, and we didn't win the war on drugs," one participant said. "Locking people up is not the answer."