JAIL LAYOFFS Attorneys for inmates seek release order

The judge appointed a Toledo professor to serve as special master.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Many Mahoning County jail inmates may soon see the place in their rear-view mirrors.
In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Akron lawyers who won a class-action lawsuit said a prisoner release order is necessary because the unconstitutional conditions have become worse with Sunday's layoff of 50 deputies. Robert Armbruster and Thomas Kelley want U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. to appoint a three-judge panel to oversee the freeing of inmates.
They warn the situation will reach the critical stage when Sheriff Randall A. Wellington lays off more deputies next month. He expects to furlough 62 on April 10.
Armbruster and Kelley said release is the only answer. Lack of funding created the unconstitutional conditions and lack of funding now bars any other remedy, they said.
"[Release] is a good solution," Wellington said Monday. "It gets these inmates out of here. I can't handle them."
Judge Dowd denied Armbruster and Kelley's request last week to issue an injunction that would have prevented deputies' layoffs. The judge appeared to be leaning toward release of inmates.
Last week, the county's Columbus lawyers, Daniel T. Downey and Mark Landes, asked Judge Dowd to appoint a three-judge panel. The panel would establish release criteria.
Numbers game
In October 1999, a similar overcrowded situation and layoff of guards resulted in the closing of floors at the jail on Fifth Avenue and the release of prisoners. At the time, the county was under a federal consent decree, based on Armbruster and Kelley prevailing in an inmates' lawsuit in 1993. The decree was lifted in November 2001.
With a shortage of guards from layoffs in October 1999, the jail was to hold no more than 242 inmates, court records show. The number was allowed to reach 266 in emergency situations for 24 hours during the week and 72 hours on weekends.
Back then, the jail had space for 432 prisoners. In 2003, the state granted a variance that allowed the sheriff to add bunks and increase the population to 542; he, though, added more bunks.
While the release mechanism was in place, the sheriff was required to file a monthly report with the court that noted his efforts to place inmates in adjoining counties' jails -- Trumbull, Columbiana, Portage and Stark. He also had to show which inmates were released to the street and the criteria used.
The order of release -- there were 13 ascending stages -- began with inmates accused of nonviolent misdemeanor crimes being held in lieu of bond pending arraignment. They were given a court summons.
Inmates serving time in lieu of payment of fines and costs who had served their initial sentence were the next to go. Then came the release of inmates picked up on warrants for failure to appear in court on misdemeanor charges.
The release criteria extended to prisoners who had served 50 percent of their sentence and those awaiting trial who couldn't make bond for nonviolent nondrug related felonies.
To gear up for layoffs, Wellington shipped 54 inmates to jails in other counties last week. The sheriff said Monday he expects to transfer 100 more inmates this week and another 100 next week.
The county is responsible for the inmates' keep, which can average $62 per inmate per day. He said how to pay for their keep is commissioners' concern, not his.
Half the budget
The sheriff is working with a budget of $7.5 million, less than half what he requested. Loss of a half-cent sales tax means layoffs in nearly every county department.
Wellington said the jail population Monday was 549. His goal is to reduce it to 140.
He expects to have 80 deputies, 40 for the jail and 40 to guard the courts.
Monday, in a related matter, Judge Dowd appointed 67-year-old Vincent M. Nathan, an attorney and a teacher at the University of Toledo, department of criminal justice, to serve as special master. Nathan, who will act as a fact-finder and recommend remedies for the jail, must file his first report by April 15.