State is clamping GPS tracking devices onto sex offenders at Wernersville corrections center

by Steve Reinbrecht

State officials have been locking GPS devices onto sex offenders who live at the Wernersville Community Corrections Center.

Typical tracking device, from Wikipedia

In all, about 225 men -- state parolees or parole violators -- live in the state-run halfway house, off Sportsman Road in South Heidelberg. The center is designed to help the residents re-enter society by providing treatment, education and job opportunities. Residents do not have restrictions on when they come and go, said campus director Marlena Seguin. Residents work as far away as Lancaster and Allentown.

Typically, a handful of them are men who have been declared sex predators, listed in the Megan’s law registry and required to report their addresses for the rest of their lives.

At the center, they’ve been equipped with the anklets since mid-November.

Using GPS devices makes the residents more accountable, gives a higher level of supervision, and increases public safety, Maria A. Finn, spokeswoman for the state Board of 

Probation and Parole, wrote in an e-mail.

At its discretion, the state may put tracking devices on any resident in the state system, Finn said.

In any case, the corrections department seems to be putting fewer sex offenders at the center.

That’s good news, South Heidelberg Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said, because concentrating sex offenders in one place increases the chance for trouble in the area.

It makes sense to use satellites to track sex offenders, who already are required to get extra attention from the state by staying on the registry, Whitmoyer said.

In general, Whitmoyer said he can’t attribute much crime to center residents.