Officials hope to cut recidivism by providing services and support for ex-convicts returning from prison. “We believe we’re going to reduce crime in Dayton,” Mohr said. “This has the opportunity to be a national model.”
State officials were short on specific plans for the center, including the number of jobs at the center, but hope to offer a range of services, perhaps including GED preparation, job placement, drug testing and day reporting for parolees. The facility also could include temporary housing and diversion programs as an alternative to prison for nonviolent offenders. The Adult Probation Authority, which will spearhead the Cooper center, already is located there.
Mohr said the local re-entry coalition will have a major role in deciding how the old prison grounds will be used. “We don’t exactly have a prescription for it. We’re going to build it together with the community.”
U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice, who is heading local re-entry efforts, said the idea has promise. “My only fear is that it is in a former prison, albeit a step-down prison,” he said. “I don’t want to give the re-entering population the idea they’re going to go back to prison.”
Montgomery originally was designed for inmates nearing release. Less secure than most prisons, it does have some trappings of a prison and is surrounded by fences topped with razor ribbon.
The state will pay to run the center, possibly with some financial assistance from groups operating there.
Kysten Palmore, acting president of the Ohio Association of Local Reentry Coalitions, said the center provides a “wonderful opportunity for individuals being released from incarceration to not get stuck in the maze of ‘where do I go’ (for services). There’s also a lot of shame, especially if they’ve been incarcerated for a long time.”
The prison was emptied last year as part of a realignment that also involved transforming the neighboring Dayton Correctional Institution into a women’s prison with more inmates. The two facilities make up the C.J. McLin Correctional Complex.
Pat Rickman, who chairs the Southwest Priority Board, said neighbors have accepted the re-entry center concept after some initial concern. “Our community has taken a hit with so much negativity, it was hard to get the community to come around,” she said. But “we’ve accepted that a lot of felons live in our community. We embrace this facility.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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