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Prisoner transport to change
By D.A. WILKINSON
LISBON
For many years, Columbiana County deputies spent a great deal of time driving prisoners to and from jails.
That’s about to change for those charged with misdemeanors.
County Sheriff Ray Stone has discovered that Ohio law requires the arresting agency to transport defendants to and from jail while their misdemeanor case is pending.
Stone said that the sheriff’s office by law will continue to handle transportation in all felony cases.
The sheriff made the discovery while trying to find additional money for his department to get more deputies out on patrol.
Stone said the opinions say that a “deputy bailiff of the court” is the first person to transport prisoners. Judge Mark Frost of municipal court said his bailiff operation was not set up to transport prisoners.
Salem Police Chief Robert Floor, who has two officers on layoffs, said that when he heard about the opinion, “It made me pretty unhappy.”
Floor said that he isn’t angry at Stone.
Floor said his concern is that the police departments that make the initial arrest will have to transport prisoners not only to legal proceedings but to doctor’s appointments, any medical treatment or counseling.
For example, a Salem police officer would have to drive to the county jail, pick up a prisoner, drive the prisoner to the municipal court in Lisbon and wait for the hearing to end. If the case is still pending, they would then have to drive the defendant back to the jail and return to Salem. If the defendant is sentenced to jail, the sheriff’s office would take him to jail.
Judge Frost of county municipal court said, “There are five or six options or combinations” to handle the change.
“We want to make a determination that is the most economical and beneficial to all parties,” he added.
Judge Frost and Judge Carol A. Robb from county municipal court in Lisbon and Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling of East Liverpool Municipal Court for years have used video cameras to arraign prisoners, which reduces transportation costs.
Judge Frost has suggested officials meet late this month to discuss the situation.
Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington said his department handles transportation for prisoners going to hearings. A person arrested by Boardman police would be taken to the county jail, and deputies would take the prisoner back to Boardman for hearings.
The sheriff didn’t immediately have figures on the number of prisoners in the Mahoning County jail. Stone said that the Columbiana County Jail had about 130 prisoners and room for about 60 more.