No talks on housing inmates

County officials want to house 150 federal prisoners in the county jail.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County wants to house 150 money-generating federal detainees in its jail, but U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott says he's happy where they're at -- the private prison on Youngstown-Hubbard Road.
To defray costs, county officials said they intend to house 150 federal prisoners and collect the daily rate of just under 69 per inmate. The federal inmates would be displaced from the jail only if Youngstown municipal judges opt to use any or all of the 150 beds for city prisoners and pay the going rate.
An agreement signed by Youngstown and Mahoning County officials this month to open the jail to full capacity awaits federal court approval.
A successful inmates' class-action federal lawsuit closed portions of the jail two years ago, and Elliott, marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, moved his detainees -- all men -- to Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, the private prison on the East Side. Detainees are held for court hearings or until they're placed in a federal prison.
In late 2003, the county signed a five-year contract with Corrections Corporation of America, parent company of NOCC. The contract allows the county jail to keep up to 200 U.S. Marshals Service detainees, with the overflow going to NOCC, according to Vindicator files. The contract requires NOCC to pay the county just under 3 per day for each Marshals Service detainee housed at the private prison.
"Right now we're content with [NOCC], and my plan is to keep the inmates there," Elliott said. "I don't want to add jails but to consolidate down."
About female inmates
Elliott said there is the possibility that female federal detainees, up to 50, could be housed at the Mahoning County jail once its operation is approved by the federal court. "If we have enough women, that's something I would consider, something we could talk about," he said.
He said he hasn't spoken to any Mahoning County officials in six months and all he knows about the proposed jail agreement is what he's read in the newspaper. "I don't have 150 inmates to give up [to Mahoning County], and we're going to keep them where they are," he said.
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington acknowledged that he hadn't spoken to Elliott in six months, adding he learned then that the U.S. marshal had women who require incarceration. "We've made no plans at all yet" with the marshal, the sheriff said.
As of Thursday, NOCC had 1,900 federal detainees, with 1,360 held via a contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons, according to Candace Rivera, public information officer.
The remaining 540 inmates are being held for the U.S. Marshals Service. Of those, roughly half are USM detainees from the Northern District of Ohio, she said.
Susan Kondos, business manager for the prison, said the facility's USM inmates come from Ohio (northern and southern), Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. The prison also has a contract for marshals inmates from the District of Columbia that is not currently active, she said.
Kondos said the prison, as per contract, pays Mahoning County 2.84 per day for each USM inmate.
Transportation
She said the private prison transports all marshals inmates. The detainees must be transported as needed for their appearances in federal court, for example.
Wellington was asked if his deputy sheriffs would be able to transport federal inmates, as the private prison does.
"We've not made any determination what we're going to do yet. We haven't communicated with [NOCC] on the subject matter," the sheriff said. "So at this point we really don't know what we're going to do. Until I sit down and talk to them, I can't make a decision on what I'm going to do. I've had no discussion at all with them."
The sheriff said the jail has the ability to incarcerate federal inmates but he needs to talk to NOCC about the logistics.
He said he can't foresee housing any other paying inmates, other than the female detainees from the marshals service.
The sheriff said once the federal judge makes his decision -- which should be soon -- on fully opening the jail, he'll start making plans to house federal inmates by talking to Elliott and NOCC.
meade@vindy.com