Federal marshals are preparing to move 350 inmates out of a pretrial detention facility in Northeast Ohio and place them in a holding center five hours away in Pennsylvania. Marshals also will move about 250 other inmates to jails across northern Ohio — moves that stem from the end of a long-term contract with CoreCivic, a private contractor that houses people awaiting trial in Youngstown (article available here).
The changes come months after the Biden administration pushed to end contracts with private prisons. Attorneys, however, say the plan will snarl the federal justice system in the region, which the pandemic has already stunted.
Defense attorneys say the situation places them in a difficult position, especially when preparing for hearings and trials. They said it creates a struggle to confer and discuss issues with clients in the middle of loops on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Attorneys said the inmates and their families also will be unsettled at the news, as visiting, for many, will be impossible.
Ohio does not have a detention facility for federal inmates. The closest is in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, which is about five hours away from Cleveland.