East Side prison has inmate disturbance

CORRECTION

The Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road in Youngstown is owned and operated by the Corrections Corp. of America. A story on Page A1 of Wednesday’s Vindicator improperly identified the prison’s owner.

YOUNGSTOWN

Northeast Ohio Correctional Center went on lockdown status late Tuesday afternoon after a group of inmates in the prison’s recreation yard refused orders to return to their cells.

The private prison at 2240 Hubbard Road is operated by Corrections Corp. of America based in Nashville, Tenn.

Candace Rivera, the prison’s public information officer, said in a statement shortly after 6 p.m. that all staff and inmates were accounted for and facility management communicated with inmates “to resolve the matter peacefully.”

The statement says there were no incidents of violence, the facility was secured, and “the community was not in danger.”

According to Vindicator archives, the prison’s contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is to house 1,507 immigrant prisoners at NEOCC, and it expires May 31, 2015. The prison has been urging residents to contact politicians to support a contract renewal. The prison holds 2,148 inmates, according to last year’s state inspection report, and employs 443, operating on a $20 million payroll.

It opened in 1997.

The American Civil Liberties Union, however, is seeking an end to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ contract with NEOCC. Its objection is based on a national report alleging abuse at CCA prisons in Texas, including isolation, lack of appropriate medical care, overpopulation, lack of prisoner programming and recreation, restrictions of family visits, a culture of secrecy and a lack of accountability.

The statement issued by the prison Tuesday said “a group of inmates on the smaller recreation yard refused orders to return to their cells.” Residents of nearby streets, Wydestreet Avenue and Trussit Avenue, reported not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

A 2013 state inspection conducted by eight members of the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee found the facility had few dangerous incidents because it houses a low-security inmate population.

However, the report noted that NEOCC regularly assigns three inmates per cell, which could pose a security risk.