After years of discussion, prison reform may be on the move in Ohio. Lawmakers who’ve talked about changing the state’s sentencing guidelines and probation system say they’ve come up with a plan that will not only stop the growth of the prison population, it will return it to 2007 levels, saving a half a billion dollars in the next four years.
Republican Senator Bill Seitz (seyetz) of Cincinnati has led the reform movement, and says this 13-point proposal will also establish admission criteria for community control programs, strengthen the probation system and reduce by 10 percent the numbers of offenders who return to prison. And Seitz says this plan is different, because it has buy-in from big stakeholders and think-tanks, including Ohio’s judicial officers, the prisons department, the conservative Buckeye Institute and the left-leaning ACLU.
But one group that’s not completely on board is the state’s association of prosecutors. Prosecuting Attorneys Association president John Murphy says his group hasn’t taken a position on the bill yet, but there are serious concerns about proposals about early release and earned credit for prison time served.