Ohio Youth Prisons

Ohio is leading the way in reducing the number of minors in prison, according to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article last weekend.

"After struggling for years to treat young criminals in razor wire-ringed institutions, states across the nation are quietly shuttering dozens of reformatories amid plunging juvenile arrests, softer treatment policies and bleak budgets," the article says, with there being a number of factors pushing states to close facilities.

"During the early 1990s, tough-on-crime legislators turned to the juvenile system. Nearly every state lowered the minimum age for kids to be tried as adults or increased the kind of crimes that land kids in the adult system.

“In stark contrast to the growing adult prison population, the number of juveniles in state lockups has dropped dramatically, partly because there have been fewer juvenile arrests and more offenders in county-based treatment programs," the article continued. Juvenile arrest rates fell 33 percent between 1997 and 2008, according to the latest U.S. Justice Department data., and, in Ohio, the number of juvenile offenders plummeted by nearly half over the last two years -- from about 1,730 kids as of mid-2008 to about 950 today -- pushing the state to close three facilities which should save about $40 million annually, according to juvenile corrections officials.



Meanwhile, Ohio's juvenile prison reforms continue. Spurred by class-action lawsuits back in 2004, a Cleveland Plain Dealer article last year, summarized that "since then much has changed. A legally binding agreement that came out of the suits probably gave the Ohio Youth Services and its director, Tom Stickrath, the power to begin badly needed reforms.

"Stickrath, who took charge of the embattled department in 2005, recognized many of the problems outlined in the lawsuits and had already begun to work toward some improvements… He said one of the things he is proudest of is that every change -- whether philosophical or procedural -- is being documented and tracked so the progress is accounted for and sustainable."

A current issue now is a small number of incarcerated youths who have been refusing meals, usually breakfast and presumably because they'd rather stay in bed and sleep. USAToday last week related that U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley ordered the state to explain what he referred to as false or inaccurate numbers about meals refused by juvenile inmates.