COLUMBIANA COUNTY Rising inmate population has jail nearing capacity

The lockup's monthly average has been 187 inmates, 13 short of capacity.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- When the Columbiana County jail was completed in 1997, some wondered if the 200-bed lockup was too large.
Now, given sizable increases in the number of county prisoners housed there, it appears that the lockup may not have been big enough.
The county jail holds mostly prisoners from the county and a smaller population of prisoners from Cuyahoga County, which pays for their keep.
The number of out-of-county prisoners eventually may have to be reduced to ensure there's room for Columbiana County inmates, Warden Hank Escola said Thursday. Escola works for CiviGenics Inc., the Milford, Mass., company the county has contracted to run the jail.
Through October, the jail's monthly prisoner population average is 187 inmates, counting county and out-of-county prisoners, Escola said.
On some days, like Thursday, when 222 inmates were locked up there, the jail temporarily exceeds its population limit.
That number soon will shrink because about 20 of the inmates are awaiting release, Escola explained.
State officials don't object to temporary population overages, he added.
More from county
Commissioner Jim Hoppel noted that in the mid-'90s, the jail population typically was about 60 inmates from the county at any given time.
Now the population of county prisoners alone averages about 150 monthly, Hoppel said.
The growth largely is a result of crime trends, closures of municipal jails and sentencing guidelines that often force judges to opt for incarceration, Hoppel said.
A larger prisoner population is costing the county more money, even though officials say they are saving by having a private company run the lockup.
In 1997, Hoppel said the county was spending about $1.6 million annually to house its prisoners. It's now spending about $2 million.
CiviGenics charges the county $48.26 per prisoner per day to house its inmates. The county gets about $6 per inmate per day from CiviGenics for each out-of-county inmate the company keeps at the lockup.
New contract
There's little the county can do to stem prisoner housing costs other than try to negotiate the best jail operations deal possible, Hoppel said.
County officials expect to begin next week negotiating with CiviGenics for a new jail operations contract.
CiviGenics, which has been running the jail for nearly six years, was the only company to express interest in the job.