MAHONING COUNTY JAIL Inmate sues sheriff over 'cruel' conditions

The same inmate filed a similar suit two years ago.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Mahoning County Jail inmate is suing Sheriff Randall Wellington over what he says are cruel and inhumane conditions at the Fifth Avenue lockup.
Leland W. Scott Sr., 51, of East Judson Avenue, filed his handwritten complaint Monday in common pleas court. He's asking that the sheriff be made to improve conditions at the jail and that inmates be awarded $200 per violation in damages.
It's the second time Scott has filed such a lawsuit. The first one, filed in common pleas court in May 2001, was dismissed about three months later.
Maj. Michael Budd said Scott is serving sentences for driving under suspension and other traffic-related offenses. He is scheduled to be released in March.
Scott complains in the lawsuit of problems with the inmate-booking procedure, overcrowding in cell pods, a lack of cleaning supplies and toilet paper, cold meals, inadequate staffing, and a shortage of medical help.
The lawsuit asks that a committee be appointed to tour the main jail and the minimum-security lockup, located across the street, and assess their conditions.
Specific complaints
Scott said in his complaint that the jail is too crowded and that inmates are sometimes forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor of a cell. Because of staffing problems, inmates are kept locked in their cells for three or four days a week, he said.
"We are not cattle, where you round us up and put us in a pen for long periods of time and mistreat us by keep putting other cattle on top of us," Scott wrote.
In his complaint about food, Scott said jail staff allowed an inmate with hepatitis C to work in the kitchen preparing meals.
"That's absolutely false," Wellington said.
He had not seen the lawsuit, so could not comment on it specifically, but he said no inmates' civil rights are being violated by conditions there.
bjackson@vindy.com