Aug 14, 2013 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Greene County Prison Warden Harry D. Gillispie told members of the county prison board Wednesday that 94 people are registered on the emergency alert system that will notify county residents in the event of an emergency situation at the prison.

The decision to implement the system came following the escape of two inmates from the prison.

Jason William Roe, 33, of Daisytown, charged with homicide, and Rocco John Iacovone, 27, of Washington, being held on armed robbery charges, escaped from the prison shortly after 12:30 p.m. June 22 and were apprehended two hours later less than a mile away.

Gillispie said he excepted the number of registrants to be higher, but said most who signed up either live near the prison, are county officials or members of various media outlets.

AMG Alerts of Chicago is offering mass emergency notifications to anyone who subscribes to the service. The agreement will cost $895 a year, but the service is free to the public.

“Anyone can sign up, but this is primarily for people who live within a close proximity to the prison and want to receive immediate notification,” said Gillispie, adding that an escape or a riot are examples of the types of emergency situations that will warrant an alert.

A link to an AMG Alerts registration page is provided through the county’s website at www.co.greene.pa.us. Subscribers are asked to provide a first and last name, an email address, and landline and mobile phone numbers. They can then select their notification preference: text message, email or phone call.

“The public will be responsible for keeping their information current,” Gillispie said. “They can also unsubscribe at any time.”

The system is capable of sending 500 notifications in less than a minute.

Anyone without Internet access may contact Gillispie to subscribe to the alert system. For more information, call the Greene County Prison at 724-627-7780.

Gillispie also reported that all picnic tables in two block yards were tethered together..

“It would take a small army to move them,” he said.

The reason the prison took that action was because Roe and Iacovone upended a wooden picnic table and used it to scale a service gate, squeezing between the top of the gate and the row of razor wire above the gate.

In other business, the prison board:

• Was informed construction of the $592,000 new kitchen facility began Monday. It became necessary to build a new kitchen at the jail when the county’s lease with the Corner Cupboard Food Bank expired. Before beginning construction, county and jail personnel used the food banks’ kitchen facilities to prepare food for jail inmates.

• Learned Fayette County owes $60,000 for housing inmates in July.

• Learned the prison has ordered an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) at a cost of $1,500.