At hearing in Harrisburg Thursday, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel took responsibility for the way employees of SCI Cresson and Greensburg found out about the planned closures.

The prisons are slated to close by June 30. The reasons, hosever, have been questioned by many.

6 News reporter Maria Miller talked with a recently retired corrections officer who said statements made by the DOC are factually incorrect.

He didn't want to be identified because he still has family members who work at SCI Cresson for now, but he reached out to 6 News because he said the proposed closure is puzzling to him. He showed documentation that counter argues many of the reasons the DOC has given for the proposed closure.

With over 21 years at the prison, the retired corrections officer said he knows the ins and outs of how the prison operates.

"They're up to date (with) brand new fencing, brand new blocks, brand new buildings and security equipment," he said. "It's not the old sanatorium they're making it out to be."

SCI Cresson's building wasn't turned into a prison until the 1980s. Before that, it was a sanatorium built in 1913, making it one of the older prison structures in the state. But that doesn't mean it's not up to date and the officer said he has the documents to prove it.

"Sixty million dollars in projects to update it to make it a more modern prison; $60 million of state taxpayer money over the last 10 years," he said. "And now they're saying it's an old facility and they're going to shut it down?"

And as for SCI Cresson costing too much to operate, he said it ranks No. 11 in total costs out of all 27 in the state.

"(There are) 10 in in the state of  Pennsylvania with operating costs larger than Cresson," he said. "Why the first 10 weren't looked at to shut down, I don't know, but Cresson is in the middle, so there's no reason to assume that Cresson is so out of whack we need to shut down. "

Many of the other state prisons are overpopulated.The state Department of Corrections admits that and even shows documentation on their website. SCI Cresson is only at 89.3 percent capacity, much less than the others.

"Some of them are as much as 119 percent over capacity. Houtzdale is 119, Smithfield is 121 percent," he explained. "If they don't close these two prisons, they could probably have population down to a reasonable level."

There has been a panel established at the state level to look into concerns over the prison closure, but according to the DOC, several inmates have already been transferred out of SCI Cresson to other prisons in preparation for a final closure by June 30.