MAHONING COUNTY Inmates' lawyers oppose city motion

A federal judge found the jail overcrowded and unsafe.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The lawyers for inmates who filed a federal lawsuit concerning Mahoning County jail conditions have asked that the city of Youngstown not be allowed to intervene in the case.
U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. has been overseeing county jail operations since March 2005, when he determined the lockup was overcrowded and unsafe after the inmates filed the class-action suit against the county in November 2003.
"The city has no standing to contest or challenge that finding," the inmates' lawyers, Robert Armbruster and Thomas Kelley, both of Akron, wrote in a filing Monday.
The city lacks standing because it isn't involved in funding or operating the jail and because it's too late to disturb the judge's finding, Armbruster and Kelley added.
The Akron lawyers, who now join the county in opposing the city's intervention, also said the city has raised issues of state law that can't be decided in federal court.
Prosecutor seeks dismissal
The county prosecutor's office recently asked that the city's intervention request be dismissed because the city failed to file a claim or defense for which intervention is sought.
The city's law department countered that the city seeks only to oppose a prisoner-release order and has no obligation to prove any claim.
A panel of three federal judges is expected to issue orders soon concerning inmate releases to avoid jail overcrowding.
"Crowding is the primary cause of a violation of a federal constitutional right in Mahoning County. The city's attempt to argue that this is not the case is without any substantial fact," the inmates' lawyers wrote.