YOUNGSTOWN — A January order by President Joe Biden to stop renewing contracts between the U.S. Justice Department and private prisons is causing concerns over what to do with nearly 800 federal inmates in Youngstown.

The privately owned Northeast Ohio Correctional Center is used in part to house those awaiting trial or sentencing for federal crimes in northeast Ohio.

Prison owner CoreCivic’s contract with the U.S. Marshals Service ended Sunday. The company has received a three-month extension to give authorities time to consider alternatives. CoreCivic officials don’t expect the contract will be renewed.

Ending the Youngstown prison contract will leave authorities scrambling to find enough beds to house federal detainees and could make it difficult for family members and defense attorneys to visit if inmates are moved out of the region or state, officials said.

“Access to our clients is very important,” said Stephen Newman, the federal public defender for northern Ohio.

Biden issued his order Jan. 26 saying, “This is a first step to stop corporations from profiting off of incarceration.”

Just under 10 percent of the nation’s 152,000 federal inmates are incarcerated in private prisons.

Around 850 inmates are housed at the Youngstown prison for state crimes under a contract with the Ohio Bureau of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Amanda S. Gilchrist, director of public affairs for CoreCivic, which operates the 2,016-bed NEOCC and 114 other facilities across the United States, said in an email that the “current system for caring for (Marshals Service) detainees … works well,” adding: “At this time, there are no safe or logistically viable alternatives” for the Marshals Service.

She said local jails and state prisons “aren’t subject to the same standards and oversight as contractor-operated facilities (such as NEOCC), which can result in dangerous conditions.”

She said jails and prisons also can’t typically accommodate larger numbers of detainees, which results in serious logistical challenges for the Marshal’s Service in tracking and transporting those in its custody, “many of whom must regularly appear in court.”

The Marshal’s Service is responsible for 60,000 detainees, who have either been remanded to custody by a federal judge while they await or are going through their criminal trial, or they’ve been convicted and sentenced by a federal court and are awaiting assignment to a federal prison, Gilchrist stated.

The average Marshal’s Service detainee is in custody for a few months while they move through the federal judicial process, she noted.

The federal Bureau of Prisons had opted not to renew some private prison contracts in recent months as the number of inmates dwindled and thousands were released to home confinement because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In response to Biden’s remarks in January, CoreCivic posted remarks on its NEOCC web site saying the federal government has “experienced a steady decline in inmate populations over the past several years, so today’s announcement was no surprise considering the agency’s diminished need for capacity.”

The statement refuted suggestions that the private prison sector is responsible for the rate of incarceration or detention “is false. Under longstanding policy, we don’t lobby on any policies, regulations or legislation that impact the basis for or duration of an individual’s incarceration or detention.

“While we aren’t the driver of mass incarceration, we are working hard to be part of the solution,” CoreCivic stated. “Our efforts are fully aligned with the administration’s goal to prioritize rehabilitation and redemption for individuals in our criminal justice system.”

An email to the U.S. Marshal’s Service late Wednesday did not receive a reply.