Prison sentence reductions may save $1B

Bill with sweeping criminal justice reform likely to be enacted.

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By Laura A. Bischoff, Lynn Hulsey and Joanne Huist Smith, Staff Writers Updated 10:18 AM Thursday, June 23, 2011

COLUMBUS — Thousands of nonviolent Ohio prison inmates would have their sentences reduced under a bill passed by the state Senate on Wednesday in an effort to save the state nearly $1 billion in prison costs.

The bill does the following:

• Directs judges to sentence nonviolent, first-time offenders to community control, job training or treatment programs;

• Increases the threshold for felony theft from $500 to $1,000;

• Equalizes the penalties for crack and powered cocaine and reduces some of the mandatory sentences for marijuana and hashish offenses;

• Makes prison officials justify why they are keeping parole-eligible inmates 65 or older;

• Allows early release for certain offenders after they have served 80 percent of their sentence;

• Gives the state parole authorities options for penalizing parolees who don’t report to their officers, rather than sending them back to prison;

• Creates sentencing alternatives for parents who fail to pay child support;

• Requires judges to justify giving stiffer sentences.

It also contains a provision that allows the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to issue a certificate of achievement and employability to ex-cons. Employers who hire certificate-holders would be immune from negligent hiring claims.

If passed, the legislation will dramatically change how Ohio handles roughly 10,000 nonviolent first-time offenders, 50,000 state prison inmates and 260,000 people on probation.

Legislative analyses predict the measure would ease prison overcrowding and save taxpayers up to $78 million a year.

Ohio’s prison population is on track to grow to 55,000 by 2018, up from 50,694 today but state officials project that the changes will reduce the inmate count to 46,000 by 2015 by diverting low-level, first-time offenders to community corrections and drug treatment programs.

The changes will allow the state to avoid spending $925 million to build and operate new prison beds over the next several years.

The Senate voted 30-3 in favor of House Bill 86 on Wednesday. The House is expected to agree to Senate changes to the bill as early as today, and then it goes to Gov. John Kasich, who plans to sign it into law.

“I believe this is the most sweeping criminal justice reform bill that we have passed, certainly, in the last 16 years,” said state Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, the primary driver behind the reforms.

The package was three years in the making and won backing from the Kasich and former Gov. Ted Strickland’s administrations, ACLU of Ohio, Buckeye Institute, Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio Judicial Conference, Ohio Chamber of Commerce and others.

The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association opposed some provisions, particularly allowing certain inmates to earn time off their sentences if they complete treatment, education and training programs and don’t cause disciplinary problems behind bars.

The state spends $1.7 billion a year to incarcerate inmates at 31 prisons and employ 13,338 workers, including 1,231 in the Dayton area. The idea is to reserve the state prison beds, which cost $24,000 a year on average, for the most violent criminals and use less costly options for low-level offenders.

Local officials reacted positively to some of the changes, particularly the plan to award a “certificate of achievement and employability” because they believe it will help ex-offenders once again become contributing members of the community.

“I think it would help without question,” said U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice. “Anything that represents that a given person has taken positive steps to try to turn his or her life around would help that person surmount the barrier of having a felony and having served prison time.”

He said one barrier to employment is businesses may fear a civil lawsuit alleging negligent hiring if they knowingly hire an ex-offender who gets in trouble on the job.

“I think this is big. The certificate provides a level of comfort to employers,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman, who with Rice co-chairs the county’s ex-offender re-entry task force. “It’s hard to say if the certificates will really help them get a job.”

She, Rice and Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace also praised the provision equalizing penalties for crack-cocaine and powder-cocaine possession.

“I think certainly the lack of that has affected persons of color,” said Lovelace, noting that blacks have been disproportionately imprisoned on crack cocaine charges.

Lieberman was less enthusiastic about a provision requiring prisons to justify why they are keeping parole-eligible inmates 65 or older and another provision that would allow release of inmates who have served 80 percent of their sentences.

“I don’t think we’ve talked about these enough. I think it should be done on a case-by-case basis,” Lieberman said. “Just because you’re 65 doesn’t mean you’re not going out to re-offend.”

Lovelace and Rice both noted that releasing nonviolent offenders into the community will only work if there is funding for programs to provide them with services and keep the community safe. Lovelace called it a ”hollow gesture” to allow for early release, but to not provide state funding for programming.

“I like the idea of sending fewer people to prison as long as the safety of the community isn’t threatened,” said Rice. “When I say ‘help’ I don’t mean ‘hug a thug.’ I mean give that person some tools so they can succeed in the community.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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