Ohio has 12,000 more inmates than it has beds…
Considering one of the issues facing the City of Toledo relates to jail costs, I thought this was an interesting editorial to point out from the Dayton Daily News that I found when I was visiting The Point, titled, Ohio has to spend smarter on prisoners. Some of the key information:
A whopping 60 percent of inmates, the report said, are sentenced to less than a year. Put another way, many people coming into the system are not heinous offenders. And they’re going to get out soon.
Ohio’s prison intake centers actually have 362 spaces set aside for prisoners who, by the time they’re transferred from the county jail and are given credit for the time served awaiting their trial, have less than 90 days to go on their prison term. There’s no time to even process them and send them to a “home” prison.With so many inmates serving short sentences and who aren’t threats to public safety, it’d be smart to find less costly places to hold them while they serve their weeks and months.
It’s also interesting to note that while there are more prisoners than beds, the Governor has requested $75 million be cut over the next 16 months by the Ohio Department of Corrections.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial takes a bit different of a view, A reminder to Ohio’s prison director: Only judges can give second chances:
Collins, in a well-meaning attempt to reduce Ohio’s exploding prison population, blatantly overstepped his bounds in several well-publicized cases. But the releases of fewer than half of the 1,229 prisoners Ohio has let go through a three-month program have been approved by judges. Of the 228 Cuyahoga County felons released, judges signed off on just one in five.
Part of the pressure Collins is under came from this as reported in January by the Columbus Dispatch, Governor wants prisons re-evaluated:
Of the 16,994 short-term inmates admitted to Ohio’s prison system in 2006, nine were released after a single day.
Another 32 stayed a week, 236 were out in 30 days, and 2,180, or 12.8 percent of all those sentenced to a year or less, were back on the street in three months.
Yet each prisoner cost the state several hundred dollars to process into the system and $69.40 for each day behind bars.
I did some quick checking and discovered the Toledo Correctional Institution costs $74.96 per day and that Sylvania paid in 2006 $89.13 per day for the Corrections Center and between $65.59 and $75.43 per day for CNNO. I know I saw the per day costs to Toledo out there somewhere, but did not find them easily tonight.
Write citations for an appearance in court.
Got a little bit of weed on ya? Here’s a citation. Don’t want to appear? Then you get arrested and backcharged with a huge ass fine.
You’d be surprised how long police officers are “out of service” because they’re tied down with paperwork when an arrest has been made over a joint.
And Lisa, does your analysis show the schedule of violent/non-violent offenders?
From your link you posted above: Ohio is putting a lot of people in prison who just a little over a decade ago would have gotten a lecture, probation or a free pass.
Non-violent offenders warrant a citation, probation and house arrest, IMO.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:20 amThe “War on Drugs” has quintupled the incarceration rate in the U.S. since it was declared by Nixon in 1971 and the DEA was formed in 1973. Now we have the world’s highest incarceration rate and the largest number of people in prison. This despite the fact that violent crime has dropped by 25% over the last 20 years, according to the FBI.
Regarding costs, the NYT says there is even better news:
“In 2007, according to the National Association of State Budgeting Officers, states spent $44 billion in tax dollars on corrections. That is up from $10.6 billion in 1987, a 127 increase once adjusted for inflation. With money from bonds and the federal government included, total state spending on corrections last year was $49 billion. By 2011, the report said, states are on track to spend an additional $25 billion.”
March 19th, 2008 at 6:55 amOne can only imagine what could be accomplished if all the money being spent to house people in prison was instead spent on proactive intervention.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:20 amI know this is extreme, but if you told the entire population that if you commit a felony, starting tomorrow forward, and are convicted, you will be lined up and shot in prison. Within two years you would have virtually no felonies committed.
Sad but true.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:11 amAmanda,
March 19th, 2008 at 9:33 amUnfortunately, proactive intervention will remain in your imagination since politicians just love looking “tough on crime”.
Jeff,
I think we’re better than that.
Yes we are. But honestly, don’t you wish underneath that there was a way to just start over?
March 19th, 2008 at 9:41 amHow about the guy that gets removed on false allegations of DV and is demanded to pay *temporary* child support which is that equal to his paycheck. This CAN happen until litigation occurs, after which knocks the payment down to 50-60%. In this case, a fellow could be removed for doing no wrong (thanks VAWA), sent to the streets having no place to live via restraining order from his residence. At this point, a person would be in survival mode, maybe not affording the gas to get to work, perhaps losing his job and/or falling behind in said child support and hence sent to prison for arrearages. *POOF* and instant felon. The kids ultimately lose, and the noncustodial parent has the rest of his life in hard times, especially with a felony spawned from false allegations. Again, the resources to the children are restricted, perhaps being brought up in a poverty situation. Hopefully, they will grow to make right choices in life. Jeff’s answer to “just shoot them” would be a sad, Saddam-like answer. Perhaps one alternative would be to reform the Family Court System, creating equallity?
March 19th, 2008 at 5:10 pmThe city is deliberatly jailing good parents for over inflated child support arrears. The courts over charge in support so the parent can not afford them, thus that parent is charged with felony non support and the Federal Government pays $115 per day for housing the “Dead Beat Dad”. So the system forces parents out of the child’s life, takes to much in support and the Courts and prisons make money. The longer they keep a “Dead Broke Dad” the more money they make. So ultimately it is worth releasing violent offenders and retaining over burdened Fathers.
RedWriters@aol.com
March 19th, 2008 at 5:52 pmI’m on the other side of the Child support equation but I have to say think the system is set up to benefit the state more than the custodial or the non-custodial parent. I’ve watched people I know deal with the issue of incorrect arrears and it does seem to take longer than it should to fix so it does not surprise me that some parents have been unfairly jailed.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:10 pmunfairly jailed?
then the system is broken and needs to be fixed.
if anyone is incarcerated because of the blundering of a state employee, it’s a violation of their constitutional rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
surprised there hasn’t been a lawsuit filed by now.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:06 amlisa,
did you know that only 1 in 10 requests for reduction due to lay-off, termination,… are granted?
You are LUCKY if you get a reduction after an unreasonable delay.
Also, if you are so busy looking for a new Job (forget the Idea in Michigan) and forget to request the reduction before the 31st, there is no method to reduce the support for that month. Period.
All of this because of the Title IV-D program that has states salivating for any reason to collect one more dollar from a non-custodial parent.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:41 amI think Lisa makes a good point though. State blunders are responsible for many wrongly imprisoned parents, and Title IV D monies are for the state. Not for the children it was supposed to help, not the custodial parent, and not the non-custodial parent. It is just an extra child tax that can run up to 85% of your pre-tax income. Then jail which is another elaborate money making scheme for the state.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm#9 you are correct. The child support system is really the biggest scam since welfare. And, not coincidently, it was spawned (in large part) from Clinton’s infamous “Welfare Reform Act” of 1996. The “spirit” of this act is that the money gathered through CSEA is supposed to REPLACE welfare. The reality, though, is that 99% of the money generated goes to custodial parents who are not in the welfare bracket (basically middle class moms). About 2/3 of the arrearages are due to the father’s INABILITY (not REFUSAL) to pay. That means that the amount determined by the state is too high for many, if not the majority, of non-custodial parents to reasonably afford.
So, what do the corrupt law-makers do after they force us into a loosing situation from the get go? Of course! Make us criminals and throw us in jail, along with the crack dealers and gang bangers! The reality is that it is the law-makers themselves who are the REAL criminals. The law-makers need to be held accountable and the system must be significantly reformed! If we don’t fix this problem soon, some day the majority of children of divorced parents will be celebrating “Father-less Day” every June…
March 20th, 2008 at 1:41 pmWe have the same problem here in the Detroit area. Whether Toledo, Detroit or another city across the USA, over-crowding is a problem that will not go away. In our region, budget cuts, increased taxes, unemployment at record highs, wage concessions (Does your employment tie to the autos?), and the ever increasing costs of living ensconsed in higher prices (gas) and less purchasing power- inflation, what city can afford to pay for its prison system? This is truly a conundrum, or is it? How is it in the most civilized country in the world, at a point of greater intellectual capital than ever before realized can we have such a problem? Has our society de-constructed into moral degenerates such that an ever increasing segment of our population needs to be incarcerated in order for us- the civilized people to be safe and protected from the Perps? Or, is there something else causing this overcrowding which remains hidden below the surface, out of the eye of the public?
May I pose my hypothesis- Never in the recent history of this country have we incarcerated people for debts owed. This practice was outlawed in every States’ Constitution eons ago. Yet today, routinely, you will find the county jails filled with debtors. Check the roster yourself on-line. Debtor’s prison has been re-named, it is called child support.
In an ever increasing fashion state after state is incarcerating individuals for child support arrearages. I’m not talking about dead-beats, rather I’m talikng about individuals who regularly and routinely are paying 65% of their take home pay towards child support and are still accumulating arreages and subsequently getting jailed because they cannot pay anymore than the 65% of their pay. One might initially think that the true perp in this case is the person who awarded such an extravagant child support amount, but such is not the case! Judges routinely award support Orders in excessive amounts that are obviously unable to be paid. Shortly after the imminent failure, an otherwise law abiding parent is behind bars, either for contempt of court or worse- felony non-support! The plethora of incarcerated parents in States’ prisons is the real culprit to our overcrowding. You won’t hear this on the radio, nor will you see it on TV, but you can read it and discover it on your own through simply researching your local jails population/ offender roster. Another simple way to discover the travesty wrought upon America’s parents is by visiting the Web. Check out one of the more popular sites to verify these truths!
http://www.getyourjusticelive.com
Randall Scotti
March 21st, 2008 at 8:33 pmhttp://www.achildsright.net