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WILKES-BARRE — The new Luzerne County central court building opened next to the prison on Water Street on Monday morning.

The court, which has been in the works for more than year, was established so it would be more efficient to process magisterial-level criminal cases, Luzerne County President Judge Richard Hughes said.

Police will escort inmates on foot to the central court for proceedings, which is expected to reduce periodic traffic jams at the prison sally port dock area. Central court will also eliminate the need for police to make two trips back and forth to their local district court office for hearings.

“It’s a real time saver,” Hughes said.

It also saves money, specifically tax dollars spent on housing in the prison.

Central court is expected to speed up case processing and weed out of defendants who don’t require incarceration, possibly reducing the number of inmates who must be lodged at taxpayer expense. About 60 percent of county prison inmates are awaiting adjudication, as opposed to serving sentences, compared to a national average of 30 percent, court officials have said.

The centralized court will also help speed up the process of enrolling defendants into programs such as the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for first-time offenders of minor offenses.

“If we can figure out that someone has a drug-addiction problem, we can fast track them into one of our treatment programs,” Hughes said.

Kelly Cesari, a treatment court coordinator, echoed Hughes, saying the central court will help identify people who qualify for treatment court sooner and allow them to start those programs in a matter of weeks.

“Having central court is going to allow us to find the people who need our program as close to the time of arrest as possible,” Cesari said.

In doing so, treatment court is able to get them into treatment as quickly as possible. It also allows treatment court to get input from arresting officers and victims, which Cesari said is needed in order for them to qualify for the program.

The Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office also has space in the court building.

District Attorney Stephanie Salivantis said central court is something that they’ve been looking at for a long time and that it will help fast track a lot of treatment programs, which will link to saving tax dollars.

“Eighty-five percent of the crime in the county is because of addiction,” Salivantis said.

She added that she thinks it’s important for the community when people are asking for help that they are put into programs that will provide them the help they want.

“This is a very important part,” she said, “because we do want to get them the help they need.”

Before being renovated into central court, the building previously housed the county Veteran Affairs Office, which moved into another county-owned property in Forty Fort.

The county’s 16 district judges will take turns presiding over central court sessions.

District Judge Joseph Halesey and Deborah Graham, a central court employee, work between cases at the Luzerne County Central Court in Wilkes-Barre on Monday, the first day for the new court.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/web1_TTL101717CentralCourt1.jpg.optimal.jpgDistrict Judge Joseph Halesey and Deborah Graham, a central court employee, work between cases at the Luzerne County Central Court in Wilkes-Barre on Monday, the first day for the new court. Sean McKeag | Times Leader

By Brigid Edmunds

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Reach Brigid Edmunds at 570-991-6113 or on Twitter @brigidedmunds