By Allison Manning
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nearly 28,000 people walked out of Ohio prisons in 2008, many without job prospects, support or a place to sleep. More than 10,000 of them ended up back there, or are expected to by the end of next year.
A third of those who leave prison in Ohio typically reoffend within three years.
To try to stop that revolving door, officials in 25 counties have created task forces to develop and carry out plans to reduce the recidivism rate locally. In central Ohio, that includes Delaware, Franklin and Pickaway counties and a joint effort by Marion and Crawford counties.
Most residents don’t think about the revolving door of criminals in their county. But they should, advocates say.
“It’s a cost-saving issue, a public-safety issue,” said Steve Hedge, task force member and executive director of the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board. “And it’s basically the right thing to do.”
In March, nearly $4.7 million in federal stimulus money was distributed to 14 counties to help them either create or implement plans to cut the reoffending rate in half within five years.
The primary responsibility for achieving that goal lies with the ex-offenders, state prisons Director Ernie L. Moore said. But the prison system and communities must help steer those released in the right direction and offer a hand if needed.
“It’s a matter of taking care of your own,” Moore said. “These are people that are coming back into your and my neighborhood. It’s our responsibility to help people.”
Counties with planning grants, including Delaware, use the money to hire a coordinator and assemble a task force to draft a plan unique to that county. Other counties were given money to put their completed plans to work. The Mid-Ohio Re-entry Coalition, which serves Marion and Crawford counties, got $530,000.
Task forces look at resources already available in their communities and figure out how to coordinate those efforts in helping ex-inmates. They can provide financial help, such as funding a high-school-equivalency program, or just make sure prisoners know whom to call and where to go when they walk out of their prison cells.
Marion County, which has the state’s highest recidivism rate at 53.1 percent, has focused on pre-release outreach, said Jody Demo-Hodgins, co-chairwoman of the Crawford-Marion program.
“When they come out of the institution, they are already connected to services,” said Demo-Hodgins, executive director of the Crawford-Marion Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services.
Without resources such at those provided by the county task forces, soon-to-be-released inmates have little to look forward to.
Kyle Tincher, 25, entered the West Central Community Correctional Facility in Marysville six months ago on a probation violation. She was estranged from her family, unemployed and soon-to-be homeless.
The feeling of hopelessness faded after she connected with Kim Ferrara, a re-entry case manager with the Marion Area Counseling Center. Ferrara visited Tincher almost daily with a to-do list. He brought her gas cards, helped her get her driver’s license back and assisted her in finding housing and a job.
A little more than a month after her release in September, Tincher is renting a town house in Upper Sandusky and has a waitressing job and a chance to get her 21/2-year-old daughter back.
“The reason a lot of people reoffend and get back in trouble is because they don’t have anyone on their side,” she said. “So they turn to what they know instead of believing in themselves.”
Franklin County, which was awarded $720,000, is using its grant to focus on the jail population instead of on prisons, said re-entry coordinator Kysten Palmore. The goal is to provide 100 prisoners, all serving at least 60- to 90-day terms, with an individual re-entry plan and other supplemental services.
“The jail population is very cyclical,” Palmore said. “If we can stop the cycle of returning, then maybe they won’t end up in prison.”
Delaware Common Pleas Judge Everett Krueger, who is on the Delaware County task force, said he hopes the local efforts do more to help residents than the state did.
“The state talks a great game but hasn’t really followed through,” he said. “I’m hopeful that this time will be different. It has to be different because they don’t have room to keep incarcerating people.”
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