Chazidy Bowman addresses the idea of pursuing “state of emergency” bills for the overcrowding of prisons

By Chazidy Bowman (Leading with Conviction™ 2021):

My thoughts on this are pretty complex, solely because I am a big picture thinker. I think addressing overcrowding as a state of emergency would be step 6 out of 10. In Ohio—and if you search your state law on overcrowding—the system has already thought five steps ahead of our advocacy. (See Ohio Revised Code Section 2967.18 | Overcrowding emergency — early releases and sentence reductions.)

When we pull people out, we need to make sure they don’t go back.

We fought this in 2020, and here are the shortfalls that we should look at: First, once folks are released, what are we—as the people who advocate for them—going to do to make sure that their release is not temporary? What resources and security do we have for them? Mental health, housing, financial, etc.—to just get them through the first 90 days, to get over the threshold of recidivism. How are we going to set them up for success and snatch them completely out of the hands of the DOC?

Second, what are the state policies on release? For instance, here in Ohio we have mandatory Post Release Control (PRC), where even if you have served every single day of your time, you will go on parole for a minimum of 3-5 years. Off that alone, Ohio is reincarcerating 165 people every week just on technicalities. With the probation and PRC, they are set up to fail.

And parole officers have full discretion over them, and the investigation process is crazy. In most cases they get nine months, which is the maximum sentence. Not on the new charge. They are reincarcerated on the old charge and number, because the state collects more money that way. It’s also the loophole and bypass of the judicial system to try and convict. The Ohio parole board has not released a report in over five years, and nobody is making them do it.

Yes, this is a winnable fight. However, it’s very complex, and we must make sure that when we go forth and fight it that it’s seamless. When we pull people out, we need to make sure they don’t go back. This is the time we pull all of our resources and networks together to be standing at the gate to catch them when they come out.