Increase prisoners at county jail, safety committee members say

By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The three-member city council safety committee says something needs to be done to increase the number of prisoners housed at the Mahoning County jail.
But the city providing more money to the county for that isn't an option, they say.
Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st and safety chairman, met Wednesday with the committee's two other members: Councilmen Paul Pancoe, D-6th, and Mark Memmer, D-7th -- to discuss the city's increased crime wave.
The three agree, as do several others, that limiting the number of prisoners at the county jail is a huge problem.
A lack of funding caused by the defeat last year of a 0.5-percent county sales tax forced the layoff of several deputies. A class-action lawsuit filed by prisoners limits the number of inmates at the jail to 296 even though it can hold 564. The sales tax passed in May, but the county won't see any revenue from it until January.
Gillam said he and other city and county officials are meeting to suggest ways to resolve the problem.
"The county asked the city for money, but we don't want to pay twice; we pay the sales tax like everyone else," he said.
Memmer said he lives on the same street as a man with an active warrant for his arrest, but there isn't any room at the jail to house him.
While the three say there is no easy solution, county and city officials must somehow find ways to increase the number of inmates at the jail.
"It's wrong to have people with four or five arrests for stealing cars and not be in jail," Memmer said. "They'll continue to do it or escalate to more violent crimes."
He suggested the county send prisoners to jails in surrounding counties and pay to house them once the additional sales tax money arrives.
The city has 26 homicides this year as of Wednesday. There were 19 homicides in all of 2004.
skolnick@vindy.com