Mahoning County needs help with jail from federal judges

If Mahoning County Commissioner David Ludt is not exaggerating when he says the loss of 150 prisoners will make it impossible for government to keep the county jail open at its current capacity, does that suggest a crisis? Sheriff Randall Wellington doesn’t think so, and neither does county Administrator George Tablack.

So, was Ludt manufacturing a crisis in early December when he said “it’s going to be devastating” if the jail suffers a significant loss of federal prisoners?

We trust an answer will be forthcoming from federal judges Alice M. Batchelder, David D. Dowd Jr. and Dan Aaron Polster, who issued an order requiring Mahoning County to file a “comprehensive audit” of the jail’s operation over the past 18 months. The filing deadline is today.

The audit must include the number and source of its prisoners, a statement of revenue from the county sales tax and from federal and city prisoners housed there, and how the revenue has been used.

Based on what they find, the judges will decide what action, if any, to take with regard to the operation of the county lock-up. Their involvement stems from a federal class action lawsuit won by county jail inmates. The suit filed in 2003 alleged unconstitutionally crowded conditions prevailed in the facility. It was settled with a consent decree that judges Batchelder, Dowd and Polster are overseeing.

Private prison contract

The current flap over the jail was created after the U.S. Marshals Service announced plans to enter into a contract with Corrections Corp. of America to house federal prisoners at the company’s private Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road.

Although Pete Elliot, the U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, said last month that he does not intend to remove federal prisoners from the county jail — there were just under 150 federal inmates and 20 or so revenue-producing prisoners from the city of Youngstown — Ludt said the county would be hard-pressed to keep the jail fully open, as required by the federal consent decree, if there is a loss of $3 million to $5 million in revenue as a result of a reduction of federal prisoners.

Adding to the county’s concern is the decision by the city government to reduce its inmate population by entering into a one-year contract with Community Corrections Association to divert some nonviolent inmates to electronically monitored house arrest.

A significant loss of “paying” prisoners would force the county commissioners to look at closing a part of the jail or making cuts in other departments to compensate for the loss, or take both actions, according to Auditor Michael Sciortino.

Federal prisoners have recently generated $4 million to $5 million a year in revenue for the jail.

Because of the uncertainty concerning the jail, the commissioners have adopted a temporary first-quarter general fund budget of $16,117,448 for 2009, instead of a permanent full-year budget.

The federal judges who will be reviewing the comprehensive audit have been assured by the U.S. Marshal’s Service that there is no plan to remove federal prisoners from the county jail, but county officials aren’t convinced.

It’s up to the federal court to provide guidance — within the context of the consent decree.