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Officials try to cut costs of hauling prisoners to court
By D.A. WILKINSON
LISBON
Columbiana County law-enforcement officials are working on a new agreement on the cost of taking prisoners charged with misdemeanors to court.
County Sheriff Raymond L. Stone said the goal is to have a new agreement in place by Nov. 1. The county prosecutor’s office is already working on it.
For decades, the sheriff’s office delivered felons and misdemeanor prisoners from jail. Felons must remain under the control of the sheriff’s department.
Stone, who was researching the law in an attempt to find funds for his office, discovered the Ohio attorney general had determined that the sheriff is not required by law to transport prisoners who have been charged by other police departments.
Stone will continue having deputies transport prisoners until an agreement is reached.
Officials have discussed the situation.
Judge Mark Frost of Columbiana County Municipal Court said that a $5 fee would be added to misdemeanor criminal cases to cover court costs. Fellow municipal Judge Carol Robb agreed.
They already use video cameras in court for arraignments of prisoners in the county jail, but Judge Frost said some arraignments must be handled in court. The municipal court already has cut some arraignments to two days a week instead of three to save court trips by deputies.
Judge Frost added that it would take 2,000 cases to raise $10,000 to cover the estimated costs of transporting prisoners.
“That’s not that much,” Judge Frost said.
Judge Melissa Byers Emerling of East Liverpool Municipal Court is interested in the proposed agreement.
She said she would like to see video arraignments from the jail extended to her court to save travel time.