Day inmates to shore up Mahoning patching work starting Monday

YOUNGSTOWN

Day-reporting inmates supervised by Mahoning County deputies once again will help the county engineer’s crews patch potholes.

This year, however, the work will be done with the consent of Teamsters Union Local 377, which represents the county engineer’s road-maintenance employees.

Last year, that union filed — and later withdrew — a grievance over the use of free labor from the day-reporting inmates performing the work as part of their sentences.

A rotating crew of four day-reporting inmates will work on the project beginning Monday for up to three months, said Patrick Ginnetti, county engineer. A county engineer’s office truck driven by an engineer’s office employee will carry the patching material.

The inmates report daily to the sheriff’s office for a work detail, in which they perform a variety of public-service projects, but do not stay overnight in the county jail.

“It’s a tremendous savings to my department because that gives me an additional crew, for free, basically to help us,” Ginnetti said.

Read more about the work in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.