Deal would reopen prison

Mahoning County stands to make about $3 per day per inmate under the deal.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City and Mahoning County officials are hoping that a new agreement with a private prison company will bring jobs and money back to the area.
But first they'll have to hope the federal government sends enough prisoners here to make the project work.
County commissioners approved a contract Friday with Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America, which owns the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road.
The county will serve as a conduit for federal prisoners to be housed at the mothballed private prison on Youngstown's East Side. In exchange, CCA will pay the county between $1 and $3 a day for each inmate held there.
County Administrator Gary Kubic said the county's fee will be based on a sliding scale, depending on the full rate being paid by the federal government.
Damon T. Hininger, CCA vice president for customer relations, said the county currently stands to make $2.90 per day, per inmate.
How it works
Federal inmates are kept in county jails across the state while they await their appearance in federal courts. The counties are reimbursed by the federal government for the cost of holding those inmates. Mahoning County gets $69 per day, per inmate.
Under the agreement, the county sheriff will decide how many federal inmates he can keep in the county jail. Once that number is surpassed, any additional federal inmates would be sent to NOCC, which would then collect the going rate and pay the county's administrative fee.
Hininger said the success of the deal will hinge on whether the U.S. Marshals Service in Cleveland agrees to send federal inmates from other parts of the state to the East Side facility, which has a capacity of about 2,100.
Closed since 2001
He said 300 to 500 inmates would be enough to partially reopen the East Side facility, which has been closed since July 2001. That many inmates would require 100 to 150 employees, he said.
Hininger said he's "optimistically" hoping to get enough inmates secured to open in early 2004.
"There are no guarantees whatsoever," said Peter J. Elliott, U.S. marshal for Ohio's northern district. "I'm not ruling it out, but it's not a sure thing either."
Elliott said he's not sure when a decision will be made on where a federal detention center will be located, or whether one will be opened at all.
Hininger said the company has agreed to give first consideration for employment to people who worked at the prison before it closed. Having experienced people on staff will ease the reopening process, he said.
Mayor George McKelvey and Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, said they are pleased at the prospect of the facility's being reopened, and are satisfied that the company will hire as many local people as possible.
Five-year pact
Kubic said the county's contract with CCA is for five years, with three renewal options of five years each, for a possible total of 20 years.
The privately owned prison opened in mid-1997 and closed in July 2001, after losing its contract to incarcerate some 1,500 federal inmates, mostly from the Washington, D.C. area. About 400 people worked there at the time.
bjackson@vindy.com