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Court must OK jail, staff cuts
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
milliken@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
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Inmates sit in a television-viewing pod at the Mahoning County jail in downtown Youngstown. County officials will be in federal court in Cleveland on Wednesday, seeking permission to close half the jail and lay off one-third of the sheriff’s staff, effective March 28.
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A prisoner housing unit is empty at the county’s minimum-security misdemeanor jail in downtown Youngstown. Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington proposes to close that jail as an overnight facility. The closing results from revenue projections for 2010 that fall far short of projections. The sheriff’s department is expected to lose between $4 million and $5.7 million this year.
Mahoning County officials will be in federal court in Cleveland on Wednesday, seeking permission to close half the jail and lay off one-third of the sheriff’s department’s staff due to the county’s financial crisis.
City and county officials and lawyers for inmates who won a lawsuit over jail crowding will participate in an informal, closed-door status conference with U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster.
The meeting follows Friday’s mailing by Sheriff Randall A. Wellington of letters to 101 staff members giving them the required two-week notice that they’re to be laid off, effective March 28.
Wellington said the cuts are necessary because George J. Tablack, county administrator, projects the sheriff’s department will lose between $4 million and $5.7 million due to declining revenues from taxes and payments for federal prisoners. The sheriff spent $17.5 million last year. His projected full-year budget for this year could be as low as $11.8 million.
When the cuts are made, the sheriff said he won’t have room in the jail for revenue-generating federal inmates.
Meanwhile, the county’s common pleas judges met behind closed doors for 45 minutes Monday morning with county commissioners to discuss the budget crisis and for 25 minutes with Wellington and Sgt. Thomas DeGenova of the sheriff’s department to discuss court security.
“The judges recognize that the county’s having [financial] problems, and we plan to cooperate with the commissioners in solving them,” said Judge Maureen A. Sweeney, who described the tone of the meeting as cordial.
The sheriff said he wants the judges’ permission to reduce the staff assigned to court security as part of the cutbacks in his department, and Judge Sweeney said the judges would consider such a proposal if it wouldn’t jeopardize security.
One of the city’s lawyers said he’ll oppose the county’s jail cutback request at the Wednesday meeting because it violates the consent decree that settled the inmates’ lawsuit.
The city, which has been a significant player in jail finances, had an agreement with the county to pay for its misdemeanor prisoners after its 71st prisoner. Anthony Farris, deputy city law director, said the city can’t afford to renew that agreement, which expired Feb. 23.
“We’re going up in an effort to hopefully work with the parties to come to a resolution that is in the best interests of the community,” Mayor Jay Williams said.
“The county is very appreciative of the role that Judge Polster played three years ago in helping us keep our jail open, and we welcome any assistance, particularly from the federal court,” Tablack said.
The three-year consent decree expires May 17, but Farris said federal court supervision of the jail could extend beyond that date.
Farris said he’ll oppose the jail cutbacks because it violates the consent decree, which requires the facility be fully open and staffed, and he predicted the court won’t approve the county’s request.
The status conference follows an announcement by Tablack that income from revenue-generating city and federal prisoners in the county jail has plummeted from $865,231 in the first two months of 2009 to $191,879 in the same period this year.
The U.S. Marshal’s service has reduced the number of federal prisoners housed in the jail in favor of housing more prisoners in Cuyahoga County jail, which is closer to most of the federal courts, Wellington said.
The county gets $80 per inmate per day for prisoners sent to the jail from outside sources.
Based on information from the sheriff’s office, the county budget commission last week reduced this year’s estimate of prisoner housing revenue from outside sources from $4,185,000, which it established last September, to $810,000, for a loss of $3,375,000. The commission also reduced its estimate of all revenue for the county’s general fund for 2010 from $57 million to $54 million.
The budget commission consists of Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, Prosecutor Paul J. Gains and Treasurer Lisa A. Antonini.
Last year, the county collected $3,617,313 for housing federal and city inmates in its jail, Sciortino said.
“The city can ill afford to continue paying twice for what every other community pays for only once,” Williams said. He was referring to the expired prisoner housing agreement, under which the city paid $3 million over three years in addition to taxes its residents would normally pay for county justice services.
“However, our position is that we want to do everything within our power to work with the county to resolve this issue,” concerning maintaining jail operations, the mayor said.
Another matter open for discussion would be whether the county’s minimum-security jail should remain open, Farris said.
The sheriff said Friday the minimum-security jail would cease to be an overnight facility but would continue as a staging area for inmates in the day- reporting work program.