One local congressman thinks fewer people should be incarcerated, and he has an idea that could serve them well.
In response to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s August speech outlining federal prison reform, Congressman Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, believes the key to reducing Ohio’s prison population is to have more offenders sent to halfway houses.
“A lot of them have the potential to be the front-end destination for some of these folks, help them get the treatment they need and help them get the job placement they need so that the recidivism rate goes down,” Stivers said.
He added that halfway houses operate at a lower cost than prisons and have a lower rate of recidivism for those who complete their program.
“They integrate folks into the community better,” Stivers said. “They’re not for every circumstance but they really work for nonviolent offenders.”
However, money is a factor Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said would play a large role in such a transition.
“If (Stivers) wants to provide more money (to make this possible), that would be outstanding,” Blackburn said.
He added that SEPTA Correctional Facility, a halfway house located in Nelsonville that serves 16 counties in Southeast Ohio, including Athens, has a cost of roughly $60 per day for one inmate. The cost also depends on what type of program the offender is enrolled in.
The facility has a 90-day short-term offender program as well as two 150-day tracks: One is a work release program and the other is an intensive chemical dependency service. There is also a 180-day program for sex offenders.
Residents are non-violent, according to the facility’s website, and are non-dangerous offenders who are eligible for probation.
The halfway house only serves House Bill 86 eligible males over the age of 18 who are convicted of a felony and are able to work. The bill, passed in 2011, changed the sentencing for fourth and fifth degree felonies from jail time to a year in “community control.”
First degree rapists and murderers aren’t eligible, nor are offenders who used a firearm in the crime they committed, said Marie Ruckel, intake coordinator for SEPTA.
Currently, there are nine men from Athens County in a program at SEPTA.
“I do think we incarcerate too many people in our actual prison institutions in the state of Ohio,” said Scott Weaver, program director for SEPTA who is somewhat critical of House Bill 86. “I think when you look at House Bill 86, it limits judicial discretion as well, because it limits who can come to our facilities.
Philosophically, House Bill 86 is a good idea, but it isn’t panning out as expected.”
Due to current statutes, SEPTA isn’t able to take in offenders guilty of a misdemeanor that lead to a jail sentence, Weaver said. He added it is unclear if the facility, which takes in about 286 men a year, would be able to handle the additional inmates.
“At a certain point, we only have 106 beds available at any given time and we are serving 16 separate counties,” Weaver said. “I don’t know if we have the capacity to increase much more if we were to include misdemeanors because there is an even broader range of involved people.”
He added the success of the programs vary and depend on the motivation of each inmate.
“But then you’re also looking at, for our successful completers, a recidivism rate that is around 11 percent (one year after completion),” Weaver said. “So we’re quite low for those who are successful completers.”
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