Letter to editor: Old county prison is beyond saving

I watched last week’s Montgomery County Commissioners meeting with some bemusement. Several Norristown residents and business owners made impassioned pleas to the current board to change its decision to demolish the crumbling, old prison on Airy Street, and to, instead, pursue studies to seek ways to repurpose the structure. Been there, done that.

The prison was closed in 1987 after the then new county prison in Eagleville was opened. For nearly four decades one county administration after another (mostly Republican, but since 2012 Democratic) has either paid lip service to doing something about the deteriorating condition of the prison, or simply ignored it. There have been studies done from time to time about what to do, but nothing ever came to fruition mostly because there were more pressing priorities and it would have taken millions of public funds to accomplish the recommendations of the studies. Nothing has changed, except the amount of money it would take to make the prison something useful.

As someone who was part of a couple of those previous administrations (Republican and Democratic), and as someone who has been through the prison twice during its deteriorating slumber, it is beyond help, and it is an environmental hazard.

With all due respect to the sincere and well-meaning protectors of the prison, the current board has only two choices: ignore the problem and prolong the embarrassment promulgated by previous administrations; or bite the bullet, demolish the building, and give future Montgomery County and Norristown leaders a clean slate with which to work.

Frank X. Custer

Upper Gwynedd