August 16, 2010. The Toledo Blade.
Aug. 16–Clarence Cooper resisted putting bars on the windows of his West Woodruff Avenue home because he refused to live within a “prison.”
But as crime in his neighborhood escalated — his neighbor’s home had been broken into, bringing the issue very close to home — Mr. Cooper realized he had to do something.
A member of Toledoans United for Social Action, Mr. Cooper did more than just fortify his home with bars. He also became one of many area residents who advocate solutions to problems, this time in the form of a re-entry court to help offenders released from prison assimilate back into society.
Lucas County officials from the offices of the sheriff, commissioners, and prosecutor will join members of Toledoans United and area clergy this week in visiting Cleveland to observe the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Re-Entry Court. Begun in 2007, the Cuyahoga County program is designed to help people who qualify reintegrate into society.
“It makes me angry that these are the times we live in. I want to do everything that I can personally to make a change,” said Mr. Cooper, a member of Wesley United Methodist Church. “… We want to stop the revolving door, at least slow the door down.”
Re-entry programs are not new to Lucas County. The Re-entry Coalition of Northwest Ohio, made up of a collaboration of public agencies, nonprofit organizations, residents, businesses, and faith-based partners, is a grass-roots organization already in place that helps bring services to released offenders. Collectively, the group helps identify needs and solutions for individuals who may otherwise resort back to crime.
According to the coalition, nearly 52,000 people are incarcerated in Ohio’s prisons. The most recent data show that in 2008, the prison system released 28,039 people in Ohio, including 1,034 offenders in Lucas County.
More recently, a re-entry court program in U.S. District Court celebrated its first year.
Members of Toledoans United, a congregation-based community organization, now hope to bring the re-entry model to Common Pleas Court.
According to Court Administrator Don Colby, the court is in the process of considering several possible programs to help offenders re-enter the community.
The Cuyahoga County program focuses only on those individuals who are granted judicial release from prison. In Lucas County, about 100 of the more than 400 people applying for judicial release were granted release last year.
Dean Mandros, chief of the criminal division for the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, will be among those observing the Cuyahoga County program this week. He said the prosecutor’s office would be interested in any program that would help keep those released offenders from committing crimes.
“Any program that would help the individual keep away from the criminal justice system is beneficial to the community at large as well as the defendant,” Mr. Mandros said.
According to statistics gathered earlier this year by the Re-entry Coalition of Northwest Ohio, the county’s recidivism rates show that within one year of being released, 13 percent of felons will return to prison, 27 percent will return in the second year, and 34 percent will be back behind bars by year three.
For those deemed high-risk offenders, 22 percent of those released will be incarcerated again within a year.
County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak said a representative from her office also will join the group this week. Her hope is to gather more information on how to help reduce recidivism within the county.
“At the end of the day, the judges are evaluating a number of models and Cleveland is one of them,” she said.
“We’re supporting the courts and we’re supporting TUSA with the hopes of finding a model that works best for our county.”
