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Struthers reaches settlement after jail inmate hanging death
By Sarah Lehr
STRUTHERS
The city has reached a settlement agreement with the family of a man who died after hanging himself in his city jail cell Sept. 10, 2015.
The agreement, approved by Mahoning County Probate Judge Robert Rusu, Jr., requires the city to pay $750,000 to the estate of Peter Bugno.
Struthers Police Capt. Patrick Bundy found Bugno dead about four hours after Bugno had been booked into the municipal jail on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct while intoxicated. He was 43.
Under the terms of the settlement, the city does not admit wrongdoing in Bugno’s death.
The city’s insurance deductible is $5,000, according to city Auditor Christina Bohl.
“We reached a mutually satisfactory agreement,” said Atty. David Engler, who represented Bugno’s estate.
Struthers Law Director Atty. Dominic Leone discussed the settlement with city council Wednesday night.
“It’s very expensive to defend these lawsuits,” Leone said. “Even if we are successful, there’s years worth of litigation.”
A city internal investigation found Bundy had violated procedure before Bugno’s death because Bundy had failed to conduct “direct in-person surveillance” of inmates at least once every hour. The investigation also determined that Capt. Michael Leonard had inaccurately filled out a required inmate screening form, which includes questions about mental health.
Following the investigation, Mayor Terry Stocker notified Leonard and Bundy of 17-day unpaid suspensions for neglect of duty. The captains subsequently filed grievances through the Fraternal Order of Police union to contest the suspensions. The matter is currently undergoing arbitration, Stocker said.
In December 2015, Engler sent the city a letter threatening a federal lawsuit over Bugno’s death. Shortly thereafter, the city, through its insurance company, hired Atty. John Travis of the Cleveland-based law firm Gallagher Sharp.
Acting on the recommendation of Travis and the mayor, city council voted in March to hire consultant Robert Pace to audit the city jail.
Pace, formerly director of corrections for the Cuyahoga County Jail, gave the latest in a series of presentations to city officials Wednesday night, in which he discussed the jail’s noncompliance issues and recommended improving security throughout city hall.
The mayor, acting on findings from Pace, announced in May that he would downsize the jail from a 12-day facility to a restricted temporary holding facility. The converted facility would only house inmates for up to six hours at a time before appearances in Struthers Municipal Court.
Regulatory standards through the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction increase for higher-grade jails, which are licensed to house inmates for longer periods of time. The Struthers jail failed to meet many of the ODRC’s standards for a 12-day facility, which Pace noted increases the city’s liability.
Pace recommended Wednesday that the city spend about $30,000 to maintain the jail as a restricted THF or spend $10,000 to shutter its jail completely. Those figures do not include estimated training costs for jail personnel.