COLUMBUS, Ohio – Amid the heated debate about Issue 1, a recent survey of peer-reviewed studies demonstrates the negative impact of prison on communities and families.

Criminologist Donald Hutcherson of Cleveland State University and Policy Matters Ohio Director Amy Hanauer reviewed more than 40 studies and found that serving time behind bars makes it more difficult to obtain an education, find a job and fulfill parental obligations.

It's not surprising to Maggie Cook of East Liverpool, who has witnessed the cycle of addiction, prison and poverty within her own family.

"They will do the time and we don't have the rehabilitation in the prison, so they're not getting any better,” she states. “They get out and they try to get help and it's still pointless because they still have that felony. You see it every day. People can't get jobs, they can't get their kids back."

Louis Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, counters that the criminal justice system already works to provide treatment options to keep people out of prison.

"When you talk to judges and prosecutors, you'll find out that for the most part we're already offering treatment to addicts in the community, and that by the time a decision is made to send somebody to prison, they've violated community control or probation six, seven or eight times,” he point out. “And if you don't get them out of community, something worse is going to happen."

The review predicts Issue 1 would allow 10,000 people to be treated in the community instead of prison.

The review also found that those who've been in prison are more likely to be in poverty, to need public assistance, and to be in poor health.

Libbie Crawford, whose father took his own life after suffering from addiction, favors treatment options so no other families have to live without a parent.

"Kids need both parents to succeed,” she stresses. “And the current state of putting people in prison and not treating them for their addiction doesn't help the people that are addicted and it has a horrible effect on the family."

Kyle Strickland, a legal analyst at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, adds that Ohio should implement policies and practices focused on reform, and rehabilitation, while approaching addiction humanely.

"We have to get communities engaged, communities invested to actually build up entire communities rather than just tearing people away from their families and kind of locking them up and throwing the key away,” he advises. “And we need to really treat this with a lens of public health."

This is the fourth installment of a five part series that examines the intersection between mass incarceration and addiction. The final part runs Friday and examines some of the arguments for and against Issue 1.

Reporting for this story by Ohio News Connection was in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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A package to improve public safety is moving ahead in the California state Legislature - with a floor vote in the State Assembly on the first bill expected this week.

Assembly Bill 2215 puts into statute that police officers have the discretion to send people arrested for low-level offenses directly to supportive services.

Anthony DiMartino - government affairs director with the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice - said sometimes public safety is best served when people avoid arrest and instead get therapy, addiction support or help getting a job.

"We're also hoping to raise awareness that this is something officers can do, and then also encourage partnerships more with officers to look at what's in their community," said DiMartino, "as alternatives to jail booking."

A second bill would increase transparency and accountability on money sent to the counties as part of the Public Safety Realignment.

A third bill would require police officers, prosecuting attorneys and investigators to identify themselves any time they're interviewing a family member of someone killed or severely injured by police.

DiMartino said they also support AB 2499, which would ensure that survivors of violent crime and their family members can take unpaid time off work to address safety concerns and heal.

"We're hoping to broaden the scope a bit," said DiMartino, "and make it more clear that family members of victims are able to also tap into unpaid leave to support their family member that has been a victim."

A fifth bill would make it easier for justice-involved people and crime victims to speak freely during restorative justice programs - by making the communications inadmissible in other legal proceedings.

Missouri went through with its first execution of the year, as Brian Dorsey was put to death last night, just after 6 p.m. CT.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stop Dorsey's execution. He was convicted of murdering his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben nearly 20 years ago.

The advocacy group Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty launched several recent campaigns on Dorsey's behalf to spare his life.

Jenni Gerhauser, a cousin to both Dorsey and Sarah Bonnie, expressed belief in his redemption.

"Brian is more than the worst moment of his life," Gerhauser stressed. "There is so much more to him."

Gerhauser fondly remembered him as fun and charming from their visits during holidays. Dorsey's current lawyers said he was in a drug-induced psychosis when he killed the Bonnies in 2006 and his attorneys at the time had been offered money, preventing them from fighting the death penalty with his guilty plea deal.

Gov. Mike Parson confirmed Monday the state would move forward with Dorsey's death sentence, rejecting a separate request for clemency. More than 70 current and former corrections officers had urged the governor to commute Dorsey's sentence, arguing he had been rehabilitated.

Claudia Boyce, also a cousin in the family, said it should not be a decision for the state to make.

"You know, that's supposed to be God's decision, not ours," Boyce contended.

Dorsey received a lethal injection Tuesday evening. Lethal injection became an option for people on Missouri's death row in 1987, alongside lethal gas.


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Amid overcrowding and unsafe conditions in West Virginia jails, state lawmakers introduced bills that would allow judges to take a 'second look' at an individual's original sentence.

If a court determines they no longer pose a threat to the community, the person could be released, placed on supervision, or receive a shortened sentence.

Sara Whitaker - criminal legal policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy - said West Virginia is one of the few states that has seen its prison population balloon over the past decade, despite declining crime.

She noted that as of last month, more than 500 people in the state were in jail awaiting transfer to a prison.

"As a result, eight out of 10 of the regional jails in the state were beyond capacity," said Whitaker, "with hundreds of people assigned to sleeping on the floor."

The bills failed to advance this session, but Whitaker said advocates are hopeful lawmakers will consider them next year.

The state's jails remain among the deadliest in the country, with at least 91 people losing their lives while incarcerated in the past few years.

According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, jail bills cost counties $45 million in 2022.

Nationwide, long sentences have led to growth in the number of older people behind bars.

Whitaker pointed out that 'Second Look' legislation could help the state avoid turning its prisons into nursing homes, and said the number of elderly people in prison has tripled in the past two decades.

"In 2019, West Virginia had to open a dementia unit in one of its prisons," said Whitaker. "There are hospice units across multiple prisons. And experts predict that this is just only going to get worse."

Whitaker added that 'Second Look' policies also offer a way to correct past racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Black people incarcerated in West Virginia are four times more likely than white people to be serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and five times as likely to be serving a life-without-parole sentence.




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