May 3, 2011. The Columbus Dispatch.
A Franklin County judge was asked to boil down a complex issue involving young offenders last night to a simple “yes” or “no” answer before 3,000 constituents.
In the end, Judge Paul Herbert weighed in on the “yes” side.
Several other public officials also were told to make yes or no commitments last night when it comes to combating crime and problems involving youth and health care.
The pledges came during the annual Nehemiah Action Meeting of BREAD, an interfaith social-activist group whose name stands for Building Responsibility, Equality and Dignity. The meeting was held at Veterans Memorial.
Asked whether he would begin a new screening program to help reduce the number of young people who are sent to jail, Herbert, administrative judge for Franklin County Municipal Court, replied “yes.”
But earlier in the day, when asked about the Ohio Risk Assessment System, he said that the tool “looks promising” but the court’s heavy caseload would make it hard to administer.
“With our volume, I don’t think we could have a risk test administered on each defendant. I don’t think it’s necessary, either.”
Pervasive offenses, such as drunk and disorderly or failing to have a valid driver’s license, require a judge’s discretion and not a formula to adjudicate, he said.
BREAD members note, however, that roughly 80percent of Franklin County jail inmates have been incarcerated before and argued that inappropriate sentencing is to blame.
Also saying yes to BREAD were Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien and Franklin County Public Defender YeuraVenters.
Both agreed to look into screening methods to identify offenders who need treatment for ailments that might keep them out of jail.
A second initiative proposed last night challenged hospitals to redirect uninsured people and Medicaid patients with chronic conditions from emergency rooms to primary-care facilities, such as community health centers.
The group noted that Ohio spent $1 billion last year in what it said were avoidable hospital stays.
“All of this costs more and more money, and leaves people in worse condition,” said Dee Graham, whose son, she said, earns $8 an hour delivering flowers and has no health benefits.
She said that he visited an emergency room three years ago for back pain and found out he had diabetes and other medical problems.
He couldn’t afford the $125 per month for treatments the hospital prescribed and said the hospital never told him he might qualify for Medicaid, Graham said. So he stopped the treatments and his condition has worsened.
Graham and others challenged Steve Wermuth, chief operating officer of the Ohio Department of Health, to meet with CEOs from area hospitals to create a system that would coordinate hospital and primary-care doctors and clinics.
Wermuth pledged to do that. He will report his progress to BREAD in 30 days.
BREAD also updated past issues discussed. The number of suspensions requiring Columbus schoolchildren to stay at home for truancy dropped to 879 this year, from 4,262 last year, Superintendent Gene Harris said. New programs require truant students to serve suspension in school, she said.
