County jail gets grant for services

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

YOUNGSTOWN — An infusion of money from the federal government may reduce the population in the Mahoning County jail, provide needed services for inmates and decrease the amount of crime in the county.

The sheriff’s department and Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes, or TASC, have jointly received a $54,702 grant from the Office of Criminal Justice Services for a new program at the county jail.

TASC will contribute an additional $18,204 to the grant. The grant period will extend through December 2010. Funds from the grant will be used to create one position at the jail and prevent one employee from facing layoff.

Andrea Paventi, executive director of TASC, said the primary goal of the new program is to offer judges in the county a comprehensive plan to address any community-based service needs of low-level, nonviolent felons. She said programs will be available in lieu of jail time for those sentenced and for those waiting to be sentenced for low- level crimes.

Paventi said TASC will provide a comprehensive assessment while each qualifying inmate is incarcerated and develop recommendations for substance-abuse treatment and help determine if the inmate can be released to other programs instead of time in jail. She said the program also will help participants with any community resource needed such as drug treatment, GED classes, transportation and housing.

Sheriff Randall Wellington said the program likely will prove to be a win-win situation for the county and the inmates being served.

“This will establish a joint effort between us and TASC to provide these community-based services to low-level, nonviolent inmates. It also will serve us well because it will free up some of the jail space with these inmates,” he said.

Major James Lewandowski, jail warden, said there is no overcrowding problem, but the number of inmates increases and decreases constantly and must be monitored. He said the new program will help ward off any future overcrowding issues.

There are 562 beds in the county jail and an additional 96 beds in the minimum-security jail. The county is allowed by a federal court to operate at 90 percent capacity or at a total of 602 occupied beds. If there are more than 602 inmates in the county system, the lower level offenders are released.

Paventi said the new program will help make sure those low-level offenders being released are getting the help they need instead of being released into the same environment with no assistance.

Wellington said the program is also good for the community in reducing the chance of recidivism for those in the program.

TASC and the county jail both work in conjunction with programs such as Adult Basic Literacy Education Program, Mahoning County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Service Board, One-Stop Ohio and Turning Point Counseling Services. Lewandowski said the collaborative effort will see to it that inmates get those services.

Paventi hopes the grant will see enough success to warrant a continuation after its one-year period.

jgoodwin@vindy.com