Request made for one-year extension on Mahoning Co. jail consent decree

CLEVELAND — Lawyers for inmates who won a class-action lawsuit concerning crowded conditions in the Mahoning County jail have asked that the three-year consent decree that settled their lawsuit be extended for a year beyond its scheduled May 17 expiration.

The county’s current recession-induced budget crisis indicates “a substantial likelihood the jail will be operated in an unconstitutional manner,” the lawyers argued in a filing today in U.S. District Court.

“Federal court supervision is necessary to prevent inmates from being housed in a dangerous and unsafe environment,” wrote Attys. Robert Armbruster and Thomas Kelley of Akron.

The lawyers noted that the sheriff’s budget has been cut to $11.8 million this year.

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