Nonviolent city offenders to get house arrest

YOUNGSTOWN —The city signed a one-year contract today to divert some nonviolent prisoners from the Mahoning County jail to house arrest in an effort to save money.

The board of control — consisting of Mayor Jay Williams, Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello and Finance Director David Bozanich — approved the contract with Community Corrections Association Inc., a Youngstown company, that is retroactive to last Saturday.

The city saves money by diverting nonviolent offenders to house arrest from the county jail, where the city is charged if it sends more than 71 inmates to the jail.

The contract approved is for $40,000 annually. It also calls for the city to pay $4 a prisoner a day to CCA, up to $73,000 if CCA monitors the maximum number of prisoners, 50, every day of the year.

That is highly unlikely, said Anthony Farris, the city’s deputy law director.

During the past three months, CCA has monitored significantly less than 50 city inmates a day, Farris said.

For the complete story, read Friday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com