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Charities to get unclaimed jail inmate items
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene is donating unclaimed county jail inmate property, or proceeds from them, to various charitable causes.
Disposal of the property by sale or donation was authorized recently by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Sweeney said in a judgment entry that the existence of the unclaimed property has been advertised in The Vindicator and that the expected revenue doesn’t justify the time and expense of a public auction.
The property, some of it having been held by the county since 1972, was unclaimed after inmates were released from jail or went to the state penitentiary.
The sheriff said jewelry will be taken to a gold dealer, who will appraise it and write checks to charities, possibly the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley and Friends of Fido, based on its value.
“Probably 90 percent of this is going to be costume jewelry and have a very minimal value to it, but, you know, the 10 percent, I’m hoping we get a couple of thousand [dollars] for it,” for charity, he said.
“We’re finding some wedding bands. We found some class rings,” he said, looking over the array of unclaimed items on a conference room table in his office in the jail building.
The wallets and watches will be donated for sale at the Angels for Animals garage sale, he said.
“The cellphones, we will be sending to our seniors program,” within the sheriff’s office to be donated to senior citizens for emergency use after ascertaining that they have chargers and are in working order, he said.
About $150 in unclaimed cash will be forfeited to the sheriff’s department.
A 1939 Mercury dime is only worth 60 cents, the sheriff determined.
Also unclaimed is currency from El Salvador and Guatemala and play money.
“We just needed to get rid of this stuff,” the sheriff said of his decision.
Capt. Ken Kountz said inmate property is considered abandoned after being unclaimed for 30 days after the inmate’s departure from the county jail, but the newest items in the collection to be donated have been unclaimed for about a year.
“It’s just something that’s been never done and needed to get done,” Maj. Alki Santamas, jail administrator, said of the disposal.
“We’re going to donate the property to good causes here in the community,” he added.
Abandoned inmate clothing usually is destroyed, but some of the better items are washed and given to other inmates upon their release, Kountz said.
For example, an inmate who enters the jail in the summer and leaves in the winter may receive a coat, he said.