COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Fewer Ohio prisoners than ever are
going back to prison after they’ve been released, the state announced
Wednesday, attributing the drop to community programs that work with
newly released prisoners, and new prison units that prepare people for
life outside bars.
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
says the current inmate return rate of 27.1 percent, down from 28.7
percent a year ago, is far below the national rate of 40 to 44 percent.
The
rate affects not just the prison system’s bottom line but the bigger
goal of reducing crime in Ohio, prisons director Gary Mohr said.
"If
our people being released from prison are committing less offenses,
then we have less crime victims," Mohr told The Associated Press. "I
think that’s the most important piece."
Saving money on prison
operations also means more state dollars can be spent earlier in
people’s lives on things like education, he added.
Going forward,
the expansion of Medicaid is expected to help connect incarcerated
people to needed resources as they come home. The state projects that
roughly 366,000 residents will be newly eligible for coverage by the end
of June 2015 by increasing the state-federal health care program for
poor children and families.
Mohr says a lower return rate will also help the state reduce its prisoner population, currently about
50,500.
A
2011 sentencing law meant to lower the number hasn’t had the desired
impact, leading to fears that the state may need to spend millions to
build a new prison after 2017, while pushing judges to rethink sentences
and placing a greater emphasis on rehabilitation.
The current
prison population hasn’t changed much since 2011, despite projections
that it would drop to 47,000 by 2015 and continue to decline.
Ohio’s
prisoner population could grow to 52,000 in two years and top 53,000 in
six years, Mohr warned last year. The state is currently at 134 percent
of capacity and could hit 139 percent by 2019. California’s system was
declared unconstitutional at 140 percent, meaning federal courts could
intervene and order expensive changes.
It’s not that the 2011 law
is failing. Challenges, including a recent increase in violent crime and
an uptick in cases filed by prosecutors, are holding back promises that
the law would lower the prisoner population.
Ohio Supreme Court
Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor has said the courts are also part of the
problem and called on judges to be more diligent about reducing the
number of offenders behind bars.
The rate announced Wednesday is based on a three-year study of inmates released in 2010.
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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus
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