Corrections officer voices jail concerns

Officers want to be included in decisions about project

The union director for the Lorain County corrections staff wants Lorain County commissioners to include them in the new jail planning process and doesn’t approve of the hiring of a consultant group that’s now involved.

“This is not an attack, but more of a disappointment email that I must address,” wrote Dave Edwards, union director of the Corrections Division, in a letter to the Commission President Dave Moore, Vice President Jeff Riddell and Commissioner Michelle Hung.

Edwards’ letter describes the current jail as a “Brick Garbage Can” and criticizes the decision of the commissioners to hire a consulting group, Hills Corrections Consulting LLC, of Ashland, to determine the size, scope and cost of a new jail facility.

Moore and Riddell made the decision; Hung was absent from the meeting

“We have had leaks and unbearable conditions with the AC (air conditioning) units for years; inmate cells flooding; water dropping on the desk of officers’ heads as they make entries on their computer,” Edwards’ letter stated. “Now the garage doors of the jail Sally Port don’t work.”

The jail entrance gate was broke during straight line winds on April 1, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Richard Bosley.

The Sheriff’s Office had a company come to the Elyria facility multiple times, but due to the age of the gate, the company hasn’t been able to find parts to repair it, Bosley said.

“No more finger pointing! No more grandstanding! Years before a new ‘shiney’ jail is built. Just get it done! I don’t care who dropped the ball for repairs to the facility. The county should be blessed that lawsuits have not been filed in regard to the condition of the jail,” Edwards wrote. “But I do know that there are records from the Sheriff’s Office over the years

asking for repairs to be completed.”

Moore said May 24 in response to the letter, that he tried to deal with this within the first six months of 2021, when the report came out.

“But it was put on the shelf by the end of the year, and then they ordered another one, which kicked the can down the road another year,” he said.

Edwards also wrote about the commissioners’ meeting May 19 where the decision to hire the consulting firm was made.

“I was very disappointed that there was no mention of the corrections officers being involved in the planning of a new jail,” he wrote. “Please don’t try to save face with political jargon that’s in the early stages. We planned on involving jail staff. I’ve been in this game for 26 years. Corrections officers aren’t deputies. We aren’t what sells. We are the forgotten.”

Moore responded the commissioners are working on the issue.

“Dealing with the jail issue is a high priority for us, and that’s why it’s on a fast track and in the public arena,” he said. “Our first priority has always been about the safety of our correction staff.

“And, kicking the can down the road is no longer an option.”

Edwards continued in his letter that the design of the jail facility is “horrible.”

“You can hire any top consultants and planners you want for a new jail,” he wrote. “How to build it. What the jail needs. If you include us, those who have to work inside the walls, maybe the current facility wouldn’t have the flaws it does.

“Why? Because those that work there weren’t asked. The set up of the new jail did not meet the needs of officers to do their jobs effectively. No firm should dictate how a jail facility be built or run.

“The statistics and data these consultants will use do not dictate what us corrections officers of Lorain County deal with daily. Lorain County Corrections Officers should have the most say when it comes to a new jail working with a firm. We will be the ones (there) daily, not the suits designing or planning how our jail be run.”

Moore said at the May 19 meeting that the commission intends to have a public debate regarding the planning of the new jail prior to Aug. 9 as the matter likely will go to a vote at the general election in November.

The deadline to get an initiative on the ballot is Aug. 9, Moore said.

The commission meets at 5 p.m., May 30, and at 9:30 a.m., June 2.