Warn of Possible Overcrowding Emergency

Pleas went out to area judges in an effort to avoid overcrowding for a second weekend in a row at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio while officials noted a low usage of a diversion tool that could avoid the situation.

CCNO board members and municipal court judges were sent a letter this morning from CCNO Executive Director Jim Dennis advising that CCNO�s high population figures could result in jail doors being closed again over the weekend.

Doors had been closed last weekend when the population peaked to 616 or 96.5 percent and were not fully opened until Wednesday morning when the population dropped to 575 only to climb again this morning to 604 or 94.6 percent.

Jurisdictional counts stood at 62.5 or 101 percent for Defiance County; 35 or 71 percent for Fulton County; 32.5 or 90 percent for Henry County; 167 or 85 percent for Lucas County; 273 or 112 percent for the City of Toledo; and 34 or 68 percent for Williams County.

There have been 13 overcrowding emergencies declared this year at CCNO. There were 23 such emergencies declared in 2007 and 13 in 2006. CCNO policy allows the executive director to place the facility in an emergency status when the inmate population reaches 95 percent or 606. In addition, those jurisdictions with inmate populations above 90 percent are asked to consider granting early releases for eligible inmates.

CCNO officials are hoping that area courts will increase the usage of the electronic monitoring and GPS programs that have been in existence since 1997. While there are currently 125 participants on the programs as of today, there could be as many as 160. The fewer incarcerated at CCNO, at a cost of $70.03 per day per inmate, could amount to savings for participating jurisdictions. Under the house arrest program, a total of 1,335 people were diverted from CCNO in 2007.

All participants are required to pay a fee of either $15.50 per day for GPS or $10 per day for electronic monitoring unless declared indigent by the court. The house arrest program was recently expanded in February 2007 to include juveniles from the counties of Williams, Fulton, Henry and Defiance counties with the courts paying the $60 weekly fee. Those placed on GPS are usually low-level pre-trial offenders. Those placed on electronic monitoring must have a telephone and most are sentenced misdemeanants.

Jeff Nossaman, EMP/HA Program Supervisor, speculated that the usage of house arrest program may be down due to the economy and participants being unable to pay. This issue was brought to the attention of the CCNO board during its June meeting. While the number of electronic monitoring and GPS participants continues to increase, only 57 percent are actually able to pay. In an effort to offset costs, rate fees were increased and one staff position was not filled after being vacated.

Officials discussed options to continue the house arrest division program to include judges making sure participants can pay; courts offsetting costs for indigent participants; hiring a collection agency; the program being overseen by a private agency; and allocating only a specific number of indigent slots in the program. The matter was referred to the CCNO Financial Overview Committee for study and recommendations.