JAIL LAWSUIT Judge asks for report on sheriff's finances

County commissioners were to hold a second sales tax hearing today.
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd wants to know how much money the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department has before deciding an inmates class-action lawsuit.
In a order filed Thursday, Judge Dowd directed Columbus lawyers Daniel T. Downey and Mark Landes to submit, by Jan. 7, a current report on the status of funding for the sheriff's department. Judge Dowd said he will delay any post-trial final argument briefs until after the report is received and he's had time to consider it.
Downey and Landes represent Mahoning County. They defended the operation of the county jail at trial this week.
Akron lawyers Robert Armbruster and Thomas Kelley filed the class-action lawsuit in November 2003.
The lawyers contend the jail is understaffed, which leads to lock-downs -- prolonged periods of time in which inmates remain confined to their cells. If enough guards are on duty, inmates are allowed out of their cells 121/2 hours each day.
Armbruster and Kelley alleged the jail is unsafe for inmates and deputies alike. They won a similar lawsuit in the early 1990s that established a staff-to-inmate ratio. That case's consent decree -- which required the release of inmates if there were too few guards for the jail population -- expired in November 2001.
Second hearing today
Judge Dowd heard testimony this week from deputies, inmates, experts in corrections facilities, the jail maintenance supervisor, the current and former warden and others. The plaintiffs argued that backed-up toilets expose locked-down inmates to hepatitis.
The last trial witness, Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington, told the judge that he won't lay off 120 deputies this weekend as planned. The sheriff said he will wait until the end of the month to see if Mahoning County commissioners impose a half-percent sales tax voters rejected last month.
If commissioners do not impose the tax, layoffs will take place in early January, the sheriff said. He laid off 31 deputies last month but called back 10 on Monday when commissioners provided funding through the end of this month.
The three commissioners were to hold a second public hearing today to hear comments about the half-percent sales tax.
Joe Caruso, assistant county administrator, has explained that the tax can be imposed and collected for one year and not subject to referendum if the commissioners' vote is unanimous. If the vote is 2-1, then imposition of the tax is subject to referendum, which must be done within 30 days, Caruso said.
If the tax is imposed, collection would be in April and the revenue would not be received until July, he said.
Massive budget cut
Wellington testified this week in federal court that he's been on a financial roller-coaster ride since becoming sheriff in 1999. He said this most recent setback, failure of the sales tax, will cut his budget from $13.5 million to $7 million.
One expert witness testified that the problem with the jail is the amount of staff available on a day-to-day basis.
He said 150 deputies would be enough "if you could get people to come to work."
The sheriff's department has 231 employees, which includes 190 deputies, 17 of whom are on paid leave for one reason or another.
The jail, designed to hold 434 inmates in single 7-by-10-foot cells, has installed permanent second bunks in 168 of those cells. It has also been using temporary movable bunks, called bots, as needed.
The jail population this week hovered around 670. In the past year it has housed as many as 800 inmates.