R-5: Resolution Concerning Criminal Justice Reform -- PASSED

• Promotes rehabilitative criminal sentencing and fairness;
• Reduces excessive punishments that do not benefit the victim, the community, nor the offender;
• Incorporates new and improved ways for former offenders to reintegrate productively into society; and
• Reduces criminal-justice spending while improving community safety and wholeness;

Submitted by:

Commission on Global and Domestic Mission

Rationale:

Ohio's steadily rising prison census takes an enormous toll on families, communities, taxpayers and the state budget. According to the Ohio Department Of Rehabilitation and Correction, incarceration has become epidemic, with Ohio's prison census increasing more than 292% from 1978 to 2008, compared to a 6% growth in the state's population. Ohio's prisons are now crammed to 133% of capacity.

The state of Ohio must take drastic measures to close a projected $7-8 billion deficit in the next biennial budget. Between 2000 and 2008, annual state spending on corrections climbed 21%, from $1.04 to $1.27 billion. It costs an average of $25,000 to incarcerate someone for a year, compared to undergraduate tuition of $10,065 this year at the University of Cincinnati. The Urban Institute reports that addiction treatment is 15 times less expensive than incarcerating a person for a drug-related crime. The current state budget has cut funding for mental health by 12% and for addiction programs by 30%.

Nearly 30,000 people are released from Ohio prisons each year, returning to our communities. Once released, ex-felons face myriad barriers to housing and employment. Hundreds of these collateral sanctions are enacted in state law or local ordinance, making it almost impossible for ex-felons to start productive, law-abiding and stable lives in the community after completing their sentences.

More than half of Ohio prison inmates have child support orders, according to Child Support Collaboration Report 2009. In prison, parents have no way to earn sufficient wages to support their children. Once parents are released, their felony record can make it almost impossible to get a job paying enough for them to meet their responsibilities to overcome the accumulated debt and to meet their children's current needs. Using alternatives to incarceration for parents means fewer children needing foster care or Medicaid – preventing further disruption to families and saving state money.

The Social Justice and Public Policy Network of the Diocese of Southern Ohio prepared this rationale. The 106th Convention of the Diocese of Southern Ohio is considering this resolution in the hope that both dioceses in Ohio will present a united witness in the State of Ohio.