Resolution opposes release of jail inmates

The prosecutor said he has no choice but to release prisoners.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the city law department to oppose release of prisoners that judges have ordered held in Mahoning County jail.
The resolution, approved Wednesday, also authorizes the city's intervention in a federal lawsuit on jail operations.
"You would expect that the county would be opposing the release of prisoners," but the county hasn't opposed the releases, said Anthony Farris, deputy city law director.
"We oppose releasing any prisoners. Unfortunately, we have no choice because we have to run the jail constitutionally," said county Prosecutor Paul Gains. "That's precisely why we asked the city for financial assistance."
A panel of three federal judges gave potential intervenors until July 28 to file motions to join a federal lawsuit by inmates concerning conditions in the jail. In law, an intervenor enters a suit as a third party to protect its own interests.
The panel rejected an earlier intervention attempt by the city, saying Youngstown failed to follow the proper procedure because it didn't file a legal motion setting forth a claim or defense for which intervention is sought.
Any proposed intervenor must clearly state what aspects of the case it seeks to challenge and why it has standing to do so and show authorization, such as an action of a city council in support of the intervention, the federal judges said.
Judge rules jail unsafe
The inmates filed the class action suit against the county in November 2003, and U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd has been overseeing jail operations since March 2005, when he determined the lockup was overcrowded and unsafe.
Gains, who opposes the city's intervention, wrote last week to city Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello that the city's likely intervention in the lawsuit leaves the county "with no alternative but to rescind all previous offers" concerning payment arrangements for city inmates.
"How he comes to this conclusion that, because we might be adverse parties in litigation, we can't negotiate, I don't understand at all. Who ordinarily negotiates except adverse parties?" Farris asked.
"We're rescinding all offers. If they want to make another offer, we'll certainly consider it," Gains countered.
Payment proposal
County Administrator George Tablack proposed May 23 that the city pay $25 per misdemeanor inmate arrested in Youngstown per day, $3 per inmate per day for meals, plus medical costs not covered by the county's contract with the jail medical provider. The city countered June 9 with an offer of a $250,000 loan with other conditions attached, and filed its unsuccessful intervention six days later.
After the inmates won their case, the county's insurance counsel and the inmates' lawyers agreed to cap the jail at 296 inmates; county common pleas judges adopted a jail release mechanism to keep the jail constitutional; and county commissioners borrowed $7.5 million to keep the jail open.
Because judges barred early prisoner releases, the jail population soared to 496 inmates, and has fallen recently to 410 as the county released inmates to remain constitutional, Gains wrote.
"Without assistance from the cities of Youngstown, Struthers and Campbell, we can't fully open the jail. Our goal is to open the jail fully," Gains said. The city of Akron pays $5 million a year under its contract for 100 beds in Summit County Jail, he noted.