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Jail count may mean temp budget
The county jail must house 150 inmates to maintain current operations.
YOUNGSTOWN — Because of the uncertainty concerning the number of revenue-producing federal prisoners who will inhabit Mahoning County jail after Jan. 1, the county commissioners likely will adopt a temporary budget later this month for the first quarter of 2009.
“Hopefully, by mid-January or early February, we’ll have a better idea of what’s actually happening with these inmates,” Commissioner John A. McNally IV said during an impromptu news conference after Thursday’s commissioners meeting.
“We have to maintain 150 paying prisoners in our jail” to maintain current operations, said Commissioner David N. Ludt. “There’s a possibility, if we get cut, we can’t maintain the staff in that jail at the point that it is right now.”
County officials are concerned about the prospect of a direct federal contract with Corrections Corp. of America to house federal inmates at CCA’s private prison on Hubbard Road. County officials fear such a contract could reduce the number of federal inmates in the county jail.
After the county prosecutor’s office received a letter from CCA saying the U.S. Marshals Service was seeking to enter into a direct contract with CCA to house federal prisoners at the Hubbard Road prison beginning Jan. 1, county officials met in Cleveland last week with a panel of three federal judges on the matter.
The federal government now has a contract with the county to house federal prisoners in the county jail and at the Hubbard Road prison, known as the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.
The federal judges, Alice M. Batchelder, David D. Dowd Jr. and Dan Aaron Polster, ordered the county to file by Jan. 15 a comprehensive financial audit of county jail operations over the past 18 months.
The idea of adopting a temporary budget arose in discussions between the judges and county officials, said George J. Tablack, county administrator.
The three federal judges are overseeing compliance with a consent order that settled a federal class-action lawsuit won by county jail inmates. That lawsuit, filed in 2003, alleged that unconstitutionally crowded conditions prevailed in the jail.
The settlement requires that the jail be fully open — as it is now — and it includes arrangements for revenue-producing federal and city of Youngstown prisoners to be housed there.
Except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which still pays $68.84 per day, the federal government pays the county $80 per prisoner per day for federal inmates it houses in the county jail.
The city pays $80 a day for each misdemeanor prisoner it jails there beyond its 71st inmate. The total inmate capacity is 458 in the county’s main jail and 96 in its misdemeanor jail.
As of last week, the county jail housed just under 150 federal inmates and 20 or fewer revenue-producing city prisoners, Sheriff Randall Wellington said.
So far this year, the county has received $4,311,424 from its revenue-generating prisoners, of which $1,066,535 came from the city and the rest from the federal government.
That $4.3 million represents more than 21 percent of the sheriff’s $20 million annual budget.
At the $80 daily rate, each revenue-generating inmate provides $29,200 in annual income for the county, so every two such inmates pay approximately the salary and benefits of one full-time sheriff’s deputy, Tablack said.
A U.S. Marshal’s Service spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., said her agency wants to enter into a contract with CCA for “cost-effective housing” of 300 to 600 federal prisoners at NOCC over a three- to five-year period.
The spokeswoman, Nikki Credic, said USMS is not seeking to terminate its agreement with Mahoning County “and intends to continue utilizing its jail in some capacity” based on bed availability and her agency’s needs.
She added, however, that it is “difficult to predict” the future size of the federal prisoner population and the number of federal inmates to be housed in county jail.
“Now, we see what could possibly happen with CCA, so we just have to alter the course and look for other mechanisms and other streams to fill that void,” said Anthony T. Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners, referring to other sources of federal inmates, including obtaining more ICE prisoners.
As of Dec. 3, the county had spent $62.5 million from its general fund so far this year, Tablack said. The county’s budget commission projects general fund revenue at $59 million in 2009. The county’s general fund is its main operating fund.
Ludt said commissioners still don’t know how much unspent money from various county departments can be carried over into next year.
milliken@vindy.com