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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > July > 17 > Entry
Editorial: Ohio should force counties to cooperate
Late in June, overcrowding forced Miami County Sheriff Charles Cox to close the county jail in downtown Troy to any offenders who aren’t violent or who hadn’t committed a felony.
A couple miles away, a second jail constructed just a decade ago sits empty. Earlier this year, Miami County shut it down and laid off 40 workers.
Before you lay blame on the county commission and the people who work for them, think again. At one time, building the second jail was a smart move. And, believe it or not, the project didn’t cost Miami County a dime.
Miami County was able to get “free” money from the state to fix a problem it had. But there were no requirements to determine if solving Miami County’s problems might also fix problems at other nearby county jails.
That’s just the way things work in Ohio. Counties and other local governments, too, are allowed and even encouraged and rewarded financially when they act as islands.
It’s bad policy and a wasteful approach, as evidenced by a 240-bed jail going unused at the same time the sheriff is releasing inmates for lack of space.
In the late 1990s, Ohio simply didn’t have enough jail space. Counties with overcrowded jails were shipping prisoners out to neighboring communities that had open beds, and they paid good money for those prisoners to be housed.
Counties like Miami and Auglaize saw an opportunity: they could build updated jails with extra space, solve their own overcrowding problems and help pay the operating bills by attracting out-of-county prisoners.
Miami County, which was spending more than $80,000 in 1999 to house its overflow prisoners in other counties, took a particularly shrewd approach. It proposed a jail with four 60-bed units, each of which could be closed down in lean times and reopened when the population surged.
Planners emphasized that housing out-of-county prisoners could actually be a new revenue source. Even better, the state was awarding grants to build new jails.
Miami County eventually won more than enough funding to cover the entire $5.8 million cost. It even turned money back to the state at the project’s end.
For a while, things worked exactly as planned. But over time, nearby counties built their own new jails. Some places, notably Montgomery County, also got much better at managing their jail populations, further reducing the need for beds in Miami.
Today, there simply isn’t enough business to support the second jail, but Miami County has too many prisoners for one jail.
What if, instead of just handing out money for new jails, Ohio had insisted neighboring counties collaborate on a joint plan to manage their prisoner populations and made that a condition of getting grants? Before Miami County built its second jail, it tried and failed to get its neighbors to go together on a jail.
If counties were grouped regionally and the combined prisoner population was jointly managed, there is no doubt everybody could save money. Left instead to fend for themselves, each county naturally did its best to get what it needed and, if possible, profit from the challenges faced by neighbors.
Had everyone been on the same page, Miami County probably wouldn’t have an empty jail and former prisoners wouldn’t be walking free before their time was up.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Editorials, Law Enforcement and Public Safety, Scott Elliott
Comments
By David Esrati
July 17, 2010 8:22 AM | Link to this
Wow Scott, glad you just made a major leap. Now, shall we talk about why the airport should be run by the County instead of the city again? Regionalism requires small units to give up power in order to gain it. Until the voters realize that this system of directing dollars is still using their money, we won’t see any change. The school building spree Ohio has been on has been a windfall for construction companies and yet, we still haven’t solved our school funding issues. Accountability is the real problem here, to the taxpayers.
By Davidss2
July 17, 2010 10:47 AM | Link to this
Yes. Yes. Beat that drum for regionalism. Of course, you just hit the right discussion. To quote: instead of just handing out money for new jails,,…———-what we need to do is stop the welfare drumbeat. Let the rest of the counties tell Dayton how to add police and stop paying welfare folks for having more children and selling drugs and being tough criminal wannabees. Let’s have some cooperation here with spending that money. No more Trammel and McLin types running the show. Let’s start cleaning up Dayton and Trotwood. Add police. Use the empty Miami County jail for the criminals from Dayton. Publish a list of all the names receive welfare help of any kind. Publish the dollar amounts of the checks they’re given on their welfare credit cards. let’s let the light of day shine on these things. It’s amazing how the rats scrambled when the light of day hit convicted felon \Trammel and his buddies in crime. Even the welfare group in Columbus disavowed connection with the money shaving group here in Dayton.———-I love regionalism. Take down the red light and speeding cameras and have real policemen make real traffic stops. Make it actually safe to drive on the streets in Dayton. They don’t even patrol the construction on the interstate where they could give out ticket after ticket.
By Scott
July 18, 2010 5:48 PM | Link to this
I say make Sheriff Phil Plummer’s Office the only police department in the County and cut out all this duplication.
By fortressdayton
July 21, 2010 10:28 AM | Link to this
‘Force’?? That flies in the face of our governmental system. regionalism here, and federalism on the state level are basics of government. Should well-to-do counties be forced to pay benefits to poorer counties and their recipients? How about ‘forcing’ welfgare recipients to work? Forcing kids to stay in school and graduate? Force people to take care of themselves? Get the idea? Our jails are full of people who shouldn’t be confined in the first place, so the concern is misplaced. It costs MONEY to confine people. How is this for efficiency: a panhandler in downtown Dayton arrested 138 times and released OVER and OVER again by the judge. Every time he is arrested and booked it COSTS you money. How about forcing Judges to enforce the law, Scott?
By throttle-jockey
July 25, 2010 10:47 AM | Link to this
bottom line it all comes down to who has the money. The state of Ohio doesn’t have money so they aren’t gonna send Miami or any county for that matter a “early christmas gift” to either add on to their existing jail or build a larger jail. at most county levels the Economy hit them hard. they’ve cut hours, workers, certain services,etc.you can’t operate a jail or much of any goverment program without money. I’m sure they’d like to keep all these facilities open/operating and people working in or around them but it cost money. It’s time clear from the federal clear down to township goverment level they live like “we do.” if our hours at work is cut we don’t go buy a new car or truck.