It's time to find a solution to Mahoning's justice crisis

If justice delayed is justice denied, then a whole lot of accused in Mahoning County are being denied justice. According to Sheriff Randall Wellington, 70 percent of the 518 inmates in the county jail and the misdemeanant facility are not serving sentences, they're just waiting -- for their cases to be called. What's going on?
That question looms today in light of two Vindicator stories that focused on the issue of jail overcrowding and the fact that no one's quite sure how to solve the problem. The sheriff, who is responsible for housing the inmates, has no control over who gets sent to the criminal justice center and the misdemeanant jail, the length of their incarceration and the speed through which these individuals move through the system.
But when there's someone like Derek Gibson, who has been behind bars since August 2000 charged with three counts of rape and unable to make bond, it becomes clear that the judges, who have ultimate responsibility, must do something to break the logjam.
However, that's easier said than done -- as evidenced by the comments from judges and lawyers in the front page story in Sunday's Vindicator. To begin with, there isn't consensus on why Mahoning County has an incarceration rate 20 percent higher than the state average of individuals awaiting court action.
Judge Robert Lisotto of the common pleas court places some of the blame on the shoulders of defense lawyers. Lisotto contends that these attorneys deliberately stall going to trial, hoping that witnesses will leave the area or that their memories of the crimes will fade.
That is a serious charge from a judge because it suggests that some officers of the court are abusing the criminal justice system.
A joke
But a veteran defense attorney, John B. Juhasz, doesn't take kindly to such an accusation. Juhasz acknowledges that the deliberate stalling of cases has been talked about in the courthouse for a long time -- but only in the context of a joke.
"But if anyone says it's anything other than a joke, then frankly I'm offended," the lawyer told Vindicator reporters.
Another long-time defense lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, goes a step further and suggests that a double standard exists in which lawyers are required to follow a local rule pertaining to the management of cases, but judges get a pass.
What comes through loud and clear in the newspaper stories is that something is wrong and needs to be corrected, but that no one has developed a workable solution.
Thus, we believe a meeting of the minds -- judges, lawyers, court staff, prosecutors and the sheriff and his warden, Alki Santamas -- is necessary.
What is so unusual about Mahoning County that 70 percent of its inmate population are in a holding pattern? How do other counties with high-crime urban centers deal with the ballooning jail population? Is the cost of keeping these inmates who haven't been sentenced locked up a proper expenditure of limited taxpayer dollars?
Perhaps the comment from Gibson, the accused who has been sitting in the criminal justice center for two years, will prompt officials to act: "If the trial had been within one year, that would have been acceptable. What if I'm found innocent? They can't compensate me for all this time: That's the tragic part of it."