COLUMBIANA COUNTY Operator tours jail to probe assaults

The sheriff hasn't decided whether to try to regain jail operations.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- An executive with the private company that runs the Columbiana County jail is touring it this week, after concerns expressed by the sheriff about activity in the jail.
George Vose, vice president of operations for CiviGenics Inc. of Milford, Mass., will examine the way the company is running the jail and make suggestions for improvements, if any are needed, Peter Argeropulos, the company's chief operating officer, said Tuesday.
Vose is a corrections expert.
The visit comes after Sheriff Dave Smith publicly voiced concerns earlier this week about jail assaults involving inmates and corrections officers.
In the past six months, there have been three episodes in which inmates assaulted corrections officers and five situations in which inmates assaulted each other, Smith said Tuesday.
In some instances, those involved were taken to a hospital emergency room for treatment.
No one was admitted, Smith said.
Smith said he's not criticizing CiviGenics' jail operations, and he acknowledged that assaults sometimes happen in lockups.
But Smith said the county is legally liable for what happens in the jail, even if it has hired a company to run it.
Care must be taken to ensure it's being operated properly and everything possible is being done to avoid assaults and similar occurrences, Smith said.
Argeropulos said he believes CiviGenics has run the jail well since it got the operations contract nearly five years ago.
"We're proud of our record," he said.
CiviGenics' contract with the county expires Dec. 31.
Pondering a bid
Smith said he's trying to decide whether to bid on having the sheriff's department run the jail.
Sheriff's departments traditionally run county jails, and that was the case in Columbiana County.
But in 1997, commissioners contracted CiviGenics, saying the county couldn't afford to operate the jail using the sheriff's department.
Columbiana County's lockup is the only county jail in Ohio run by a private company.
Smith said he's doubtful his department could run the jail for the same cost as CiviGenics, which charges the county about $48 per inmate, per day.
The county spends about $2.1 million annually to house prisoners.
That's about $700,000 less than it cost when the jail was in the sheriff's department's hands.
Smith said that private companies don't have the personnel expenses that public entities have, making it difficult for the public sector to compete.