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Lawyers say jail is still a mess
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
Lawyers for inmates who won a class-action lawsuit concerning jail crowding report conditions in the Mahoning County jail are abysmal and likely to worsen as the three-year consent decree that settled the lawsuit expires.
“It appears the county is on a course to create chaos,” wrote Attys. Robert Armbruster and Thomas Kelley of Akron based on their final monitoring visit Monday.
Sheriff Randall A. Wellington, whose department operates the jail, declined to comment on Armbruster and Kelley’s report, but he called attention to a favorable April 28 report by a county grand jury, which toured the jail and found it clean, well-lit and secure.
County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains did not respond to a request to comment.
Armbruster and Kelley have asked the panel of three federal judges supervising the jail to extend the consent decree, which requires the facility to be fully open and staffed and meet certain other conditions, for one year beyond its scheduled expiration Monday.
The city and the county have opposed the extension, calling it unnecessary, and the federal judges haven’t issued any notice concerning their ruling on the extension request.
County auditor’s office records show the county paid Armbruster and Kelley a combined total of $195,863 in legal fees in three installments since July 2007. Their rates are $186 per hour while in court and $150 per hour for work performed in their office.
In their report, Armbruster and Kelley said the county is unsure, which, if any, inmates can be released to avoid crowding as it faces the planned layoff of nearly half the jail staff due to its recession-induced financial crisis.
“This points to the likelihood that inmates will be racked and stacked ... with inadequate staffing to ensure safety and security,” the inmates’ lawyers wrote.
In the week before their final visit, the lawyers noted an increase in staff call-offs. As layoff notices loom, staff morale is “extemely poor,” and the jail has “an atmosphere that resembles a morgue,” they added.
Because of staff shortages, many inmates aren’t getting general educational development classes, and outdoor recreation has been infrequent, the lawyers said.
Some of the 494 inmates are sleeping on temporary beds in violation of the consent decree, rather than on wall-mounted bunks, the lawyers reported.
Inmates can telephone only those who accept collect calls or post money for them to make calls. “The inability of inmates to purchase calling cards is unreasonable, and, quite frankly, a violation of basic human rights,” the inmates’ lawyers protested.
In contrast to Armbruster and Kelley’s report, the grand jurors reported they were impressed by “the overall cleanliness and ‘still-new’ condition” of the jail, which opened in 1996, and the abundance of natural light inside it.
The grand jurors found the jail lunch they ate satisfactory but not exceptional and the jail medical unit well-equipped.
“The inmates were well-behaved and nonthreatening,” they reported.
“We believe that the security is state of the art. The citizens should sleep well knowing that this jail system is in place in Mahoning County,” the grand jurors concluded.