Whose fault is dysfunction of criminal justice system?
As U.S. District Court Judge David D. Dowd Jr. studies the report of the Mahoning County Criminal Justice Working Group, we hope he remembers that the criminal justice system became "dysfunctional" because of the failure of public officials to adequately perform their duties.
Who are these public officials? That's for Judge Dowd to find out. We certainly can't name names because the press and the public have been locked out of the meetings of the working group. But residents got a glimpse of the root causes of the dysfunction in a front page Vindicator story published May 18.
The story was based on comments made by Rick Billak, director of the Community Corrections Association, about Sheriff Randall Wellington during his appearance on the Louie Free Show on WASN-1500.
"If I sat where he [sits], I would resign," Billak told radio talk show host Louie Free.
The CCA director is upset because his agency does not have access to the sheriff's department Law Enforcement Automated Data System terminals. CCA does pre-sentence investigations for common pleas court judges and needs defendants' criminal histories pulled from LEADS.
As a result of this dysfunction, judges must get criminal histories from the prosecutor's office, which may not be as up-to-date as the information available to the sheriff.
But it just isn't Wellington who needs to be put under the microscope by Judge Dowd. What responsibility do Prosecutor Paul Gains and the judges of the common pleas and lower courts have for the system's breakdown?
Part of the problem
It's not enough to have a working group made up of the individuals who have been part of the problem discussing -- behind closed doors -- solutions to those problems. And it certainly isn't enough to have a report from this group that undoubtedly refrains from naming names.
The word "dysfunctional" was used by Atty. Vincent M. Nathan of Toledo in a 22-page evaluation of the county jail. Nathan wrote that the jail's problems of overcrowding and staff shortages were the result of a "dysfunctional criminal justice system" and he recommended the formation of a working group to address the myriad problems affecting law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor's office, the courts and the jail.
Judge Dowd is presiding over a lawsuit filed by inmates who claim that their constitutional rights are being violated because of problems in the jail.
Given that local public officials are not going to publicly talk about each other's shortcomings -- that is why Billak's comments about Wellington are newsworthy -- it is up to the federal court to determine if the public should have confidence in the individuals involved in the criminal justice system, from the judges on down.
As for Wellington, we continue to wonder whether the numerous problems that have afflicted the sheriff's department and the jail are the result of his running out of steam or mere mismanagement. We hope Judge Dowd can shed some light on that issue.