Mahoning County jail day-reporting inmates to help patch potholes

YOUNGSTOWN — Day-reporting inmates supervised by Mahoning County sheriff’s deputies will once again help the county engineer’s crews patch potholes, but, this year, it’ll be 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.

These inmates report daily to the sheriff’s department 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 this morning.

“We have all hands on deck right now trying to treat the potholes, and it’s simply not enough. There’s not enough time in the day or people to address all of the issues we have right now,” he said. “We’ve got between five and six crews out patching daily,” he added.

Rich Sandberg, Local 377 president, has agreed to use of the day-reporting inmates, saying it “is in the best interests of the public,” Ginnetti said.

For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator and Vindy.com