Monitor: Ohio youths behind bars don’t go hungry

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A court-appointed monitor says he’s satisfied youth at Ohio juvenile detention facilities are getting enough good food to eat.

Fred Cohen, a juvenile- justice expert overseeing the Ohio Department of Youth Services, says inmates aren’t going hungry or lacking adequate nutrition.

The agency submitted Cohen’s report in a federal court filing late Wednesday.

Cohen’s monitoring team checked on meals after a federal judge ordered the agency to rewrite its policy to reflect that all youth in custody must be fed.

A tiny portion of youths in state facilities refuse meals, typically at breakfast when they don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.

The state found that out of 266,000 meals served in March, April and May, only 731 were refused.

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