Midrange sanctions cut prison population

The prosecutor's prison commitments are not up as much as his flier says.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County's violent offenders go to prison, and roughly 25 percent of its nonviolent offenders end up at Community Corrections Association, just what the state wants, CCA's director says.
"The state's goal has been to reduce prison populations with midrange sanctions," said Richard J. Billak, CCA chief executive officer. "The end result is a more effective system of justice."
CCA is a halfway facility on Market Street that houses low-level felons on a short term basis, offers a variety of rehabilitation programs and then releases them to community control, commonly called probation.
Billak said the state has allocated nearly $100 million to fund community-based operations such as CCA.
He said Mahoning County has a "fair and balanced system of lockups and diversions." The diversion of nonviolent criminals to CCA is not "slap on the wrist justice," it's a reflection of presentence investigation reports that take into account their records, he said.
Presentence reports for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court defendants are done either by CCA or the Ohio Adult Parole Authority on Belmont Avenue, Billak said. To meet state objectives, CCA accepts 25 percent of those who qualify for alternative sentencing in the reports, he said.
Ohio's 1996 sentencing guidelines encourage judges to use local sanctions such as fines, community service, electronically monitored home confinement and halfway houses to punish and rehabilitate nonviolent offenders.
If an offender has one nonviolent felony conviction, such as breaking and entering or theft, and received probation "a slap on the wrist, not prison," for the crime, CCA will accept him, Billak said.
How this works
Billak said if CCA residents violate the rules, their probation status is revoked and they go to prison. He said those who complete the CCA program have fewer lapses into criminal behavior than those who don't.
Billak's comments come in the wake of a resolution issued by the Mahoning Valley Chiefs of Police Association. The chiefs advocate changes in the criminal justice system, tax reforms to ensure adequate law enforcement funding and more.
The chiefs said the system of part-time courts and understaffing in common pleas court and the prosecutor's office is inadequate to administer justice in a county that has the highest per-capita homicide and gun-violence rate in the state. Too many predatory criminals get their charges reduced and receive plea-bargained sentences, they said.
A 10-year review of state prison commitment records by The Vindicator shows that Mahoning County locked up 2,065 criminals, and Trumbull County sent 2,307.
During that time, Youngstown, the largest city in Mahoning, had the highest per-capita homicide rate in the state.
Billak said sentencing should not be based on where you commit a crime; the penalty should reflect the sentencing guidelines for the crime.
Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said he considers CCA a minimum security lockup that helps train people to lead productive lives. He said the common pleas courts send most first-time felony offenders to CCA.
Incorrect figures
Gains, who is up for re-election, recently handed out fliers that erroneously claim his prison commitments have increased by one-third over his predecessor, James A. Philomena, who is in prison for case fixing. Gains has been in office since January 1997.
During Philomena's last six years in office, 1991 through 1996, prison commitments totaled 1,183. During Gains' first six years in office, 1997 through 2002, commitments totaled 1,289.
The increase is 9 percent, not 33 percent.
Billak said the chiefs association may have a problem viewing the system the way it is now and don't appreciate that there are midrange sanctions. It's no longer a case of prison or probation, he said.
Mahoning County's state prison inmate numbers, he said, are in line with the push to reduce prison populations by having low-end criminals placed in community-based facilities. The high-level violent offenders go to prison, he said.
The chiefs association, though, has expressed concern about lifelong criminals who repeatedly victimize residents and businesses. Typically, the repeat offenders commit low-level felony crimes such as certain thefts, robberies and drug offenses and breaking and entering.