Struthers must weigh future of jail carefully
For more than one year now, operations at the Struthers City Jail have been chained to controversy, conflict and criticism.
Procedural irregularities leading up to the suicide of 43-year-old inmate Peter Bugno on Sept. 10, 2015, have cast some serious doubts on the city’s ability to capably manage the jail. The burden now falls on Mayor Terry Stocker to chart its future. He should do so with the interests and welfare of the city, its police department and jail inmates foremost in mind.
One option not on the table is continuing its operation as a 12-day municipal holding facility for criminal defendants. State inspectors late last year cited the jail for failure to meet eight important standards, including four classified as “essential” such as its insufficient documented surveillance of inmates.
Those findings mirror results of other state inspections and conclusions from a city-launched jail audit released last week. Such findings and the rising costs of effectively operating a jail safely and efficiently have led the mayor to focus on two potentially viable options recommended in the audit: operating the jail as a restricted Temporary Holding Facility or closing it altogether.
Results of the audit, conducted by consultant Robert Pace, former director of corrections for the Cuyahoga County Jail, did little to quell concerns over the competency of the jail’s oversight. In fact, it detailed numerous examples of “consistent disregard” of the state’s minimum regulatory standards.
Even if Stocker, who is being assisted in making his decision by a committee of community stakeholders, opts to keep the jail open as a scaled-down maximum six-hour holding facility, the city should be expected to invest in fixing the embarrassing deficiencies cited in the audit. They include:
Installation of more smoke detectors.
More secure locks on cell doors.
A two-way communication system (cameras), which can function as a way for an inmate to call for help during an emergency.
Removal of all vents in jail cells that served as tools for two suicides in the jail over the years.
CLOSE THE JAIL?
The other option, of course, is to permanently shutter the jail. If the city chooses to do so, it would hardly establish itself as a trailblazer. Escalating operational costs and heightened liability issues have made such small community jails the exception, not the rule, in American criminal justice.
Though the city would lose some revenue from its “pay-to-stay” fees from prisoners, it would gain the comfort of knowing that the Mahoning County Jail would be much better equipped and staffed to handle any inmate problem or emergency.
Youngstown got out of the jail business more than 20 years ago. Today, Campbell and Struthers stand as the only two small municipal jails still in operation in the county. Youngstown officials have had no regrets for their decision.
In making the final decision, Stocker and his advisers must keep financial costs uppermost in mind. Struthers, like many communities in the Mahoning Valley, continues to struggle to stay afloat and keep its books in the black. One question that merits significant exploration is this: Can the city realistically afford the additional costs inherent to bringing its jail into compliance with even minimal state standards?
To be sure, Struthers can ill afford to risk additional and costly settlement agreements akin to the $750,000 the city recently agreed to pay the family and estate of Bugno, the victim of last year’s jail suicide.
In it, the city did not admit any wrongdoing in the death, even though an earlier internal investigation acknowledged that two police captains acted negligently in overseeing the jail and supervising the inmate in the hours preceding his death. Its insurance deductible in the settlement is $5,000.
In addition to the financial costs, the decision-makers also must consider other costs, not the least of which are the stains the suicide and jail-monitoring irregularities surrounding it, have inflicted on the community’s image.
Bugno’s death, coupled with the 2005 suicide of a 21-year-old male inmate and the 2006 suicide of a 42-year-old female inmate, has cast the jail in an unflattering light throughout the community.
A decision to keep the jail open as a short-term holding facility must be accompanied by a firm resolve to staff and equip it to the highest standards for the welfare and safety of any and all inmates who spend even minutes behind its bars.