Talk of juvenile, adult prisons merger concerns advocates

By: Randy Ludlow

The Columbus Dispatch - August 25, 2016 04:11 PM

A potential merger of the state’s adult and juvenile prison systems is raising alarm among advocates for troubled youth.

The Dispatch reported today that the administration of Gov. John Kasich is studying the possibility of combining the agencies in the next state budget to surface early next year.

Cincinnati lawyer Alphonse Gerhardstein worries that a combined system effectively would divert the state’s attention from carefully nurtured improvements made to benefit juveniles in the custody of the Department of Youth Services.

Gerhardstein was among those who sued the state in 2004 over the treatment of youthful offenders, leading to a 2008 agreement in which the state pledged to lessen violence, use less seclusion, improve medical and mental-health care and expand educational opportunities.

The state was released from eight years of federal-court oversight in December, with Gerhardstein praising the improvements and the leadership of the Department of Youth Services. It would be a setback not to preserve a separate focus on young offenders, he said.

“We are concerned that a potential merger between DYS and (and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction) would be a step backwards for Ohio’s kids and communities,” the Ohio Juvenile Justice Alliance wrote in a statement this afternoon.