MAHONING COUNTY Toilet backups persisted at jail during weekend

52 inmates were displaced as a result of the clog.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Over the weekend, a couple of cigarette lighters tossed into a toilet wedged in the pipe and created backups at the Mahoning County Jail, the county facilities director said.
Richard Malagisi said the jail has vacuum toilets, which means clogs generally affect the whole system. He said the problem was reported at 10:15 p.m. Saturday.
Malagisi said two of his men worked six hours overtime Sunday to find the blockage and had to cut a pipe. A part was needed, which delayed finishing the job until Monday, he said.
The affected inmates
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington said the 52 inmates affected by the clogged toilets had to be moved from the north to the south tower at the jail. He said they were moved back Monday.
The jail had 296 inmates Monday, as required by the federal judge overseeing the remedy period of an inmates' class-action lawsuit that dealt with overcrowding. The jail can hold 564 inmates.
Wellington said inmates are not permitted to smoke in the facility so they wouldn't have lighters. He said the cigarette lighters could have been discarded in rest rooms used by deputies or in rest rooms made available to the public.
The Vindicator receives letters on a regular basis from inmates complaining about backed-up toilets.
Malagisi said toilet backups at the jail occur with frequency, likely twice a month. He said inmates are to blame 90 percent of the time.
In the past, maintenance workers have found inmates' coveralls, sheets, pillowcases, potato chip bags and molded foam cups in the clogged toilets, Malagisi said.