PRISONS Inmates' transfer to begin

Deputies from Mahoning and Trumbull have applied at the prison housing the detainees.
YOUNGSTOWN -- All federal detainees -- about 80 -- now housed at the Mahoning County jail will be transferred to the private prison on Hubbard Road by week's end.
With them goes nearly $69 per day that the U.S. Marshals Service pays the county per inmate. The yearly contract, which includes a $3 per day fee for federal inmates housed at the private prison, brings in around $3 million, Sheriff Randall A. Wellington has said.
Monday, U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott said his decision to transfer the detainees is based on a federal judge's ruling that the overcrowded county jail violates' inmates constitutional rights. The marshal said he's moving 80 from the Mahoning County jail and 20 more from other jails to Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road.
For safety reasons, he wouldn't say exactly when those incarcerated would be transferred to the East Side prison. NOCC will receive about $65 per day per inmate.
Elliott said incoming federal inmates won't stay at the Mahoning County jail for even one night. This would affect those who post bond shortly after being arrested and booked.
Elliott said his relationship with Wellington has been great but he has a responsibility to protect the federal inmates' rights. The detainees are awaiting court hearings or placement in a federal prison.
Into the general fund
Last week, U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. agreed with inmates' lawyers who filed a class-action lawsuit against the Mahoning County jail. The judge found fault with nearly every aspect of the jail operation and said the conditions -- mostly because of too few guards -- amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
Elliott said he wasn't sure which way Judge Dowd would rule but wasn't overly surprised by the outcome.
This week, county officials will meet and come up with the names of five candidates for special master (fact-finder) for the judge. The inmates' lawyers will also submit five names. The person chosen by the judge will recommend how to fix the jail's problems.
Judge Dowd said the population level at the main jail has greatly exceeded the approved capacity of 564. He said while the number of inmates increased over time, the number of guards decreased.
Wellington said 50 deputies will be laid off March 27 and 90 more soon after. The sheriff is working with a $7.5 million budget this year because of voter rejection of a half-cent sales tax. He had asked for $16.9 million.
Judge Dowd said a variance from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction allowed bunks to be installed two years ago to increase the population from 434 to 564. The variance was granted with the understanding that the sheriff eliminate the housing of federal inmates, the judge said.
"The defendants have not removed federal inmates from the facility as required by the variance," Judge Dowd wrote in his ruling. "Even as they were applying for and implementing the variance, the defendants were negotiating with the U.S. Marshals Service to house additional federal inmates."
The judge pointed out that commissioners did not resolve to allow the sheriff to keep money earned from the federal inmate contract. The money currently goes into the general fund.
Elliott said Monday that he wasn't aware of the variance.
Capacity at NOCC
NOCC, meanwhile, has a 2,106-bed capacity and currently houses around 400 federal inmates with a staff of 160 corrections officers, Roseann Rubosky, public information officer, said. Aside from the 100 inmates Elliott is sending, the prison will welcome nearly 1,200 beginning July 1.
In December 2004, the Federal Bureau of Prisons awarded a contract to Corrections Corporation of America of Nashville, parent company of NOCC. Some 1,195 prisoners, classified as low-security, will be sent to NOCC this summer, and that population number will remain in effect for four years.
The contract means jobs and a boost in the city's tax base.
Rubosky said NOCC intends to hire 260 more corrections officers by year's end. She said the prison has received several applications from deputy sheriffs in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
"Works for us," Rubosky said. "The more experience, the better."
Budgets cuts have meant layoffs for sheriff's departments in both counties.