Women inmates at Warren's NEOCAP moved to Painesville

WARREN — The NorthEast Ohio Community Alternative Program on Pine Street Southeast no longer houses females offenders, having moved them to its Painesville facility to accommodate the growing need for NEOCAP services because of the nation’s drug-addiction epidemic.

NEOCAP now has room for 125 male offenders from Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull counties in the Pine Avenue facility. It started out in 1997 with room for 60 residents, according to a news release.

In 2000, it expanded to house 30 additional men, and a female wing was added to accommodate 30 women.

But the need for the NEOCAP’s correctional services for people with substance dependence, high-risk thinking, problem-solving and anger control continued to grow as the heroin epidemic grew, said Jake Jones Sr., NEOCAP’s executive director.

All the females at the Warren facility were moved to the former Lake County Minimum Security in Painesville in June. It housed 48 women as of late July.