Advocacy organizations of differing ideologies appear to be in agreement when it comes to certain bail reform efforts in Ohio.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear proponent testimony on a proposed fix to an Ohio Supreme Court ruling, which said courts cannot use public safety as a factor in setting bail.

Senate Joint Resolution 5 would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November to allow courts to use public safety and other factors in determining the amount of bail posted.

Alan Smith, criminal justice fellow at the Buckeye Institute, a free-market public policy think tank, argued Ohio would be better served by bipartisan reform efforts in the Legislature.

"The focus here is on accused persons who are in jail because they couldn't organize bail money and people with resources can pay their way out," Smith pointed out. "There's a discrepancy there."

Senate Bill 182 and House Bill 315 would write into law the presumption for release rather than detention and greatly reduce the use of cash bail. The measures also are supported by the ACLU of Ohio, Common Cause Ohio, Ohio Conservatives for Bail Reform, and Policy Matters Ohio.

Supporters of the constitutional amendment, including the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, argued judges should not be limited in their ability to consider victims' rights and public safety. But Smith countered changing the constitution would undermine current and future legislative work.

"It may affect negatively some of the long-term work that's been put into bail reform," Smith explained. "There might be perceived conflicts because one set of rules is in the Constitution and another set would be statutory."

Smith added reducing the use of cash bail will keep people with low-level offenses out of jail and save the state money, while preserving the principle of innocent until proved guilty.

"There's a wide spectrum of ideological interest in making the system better," Smith noted. "It all comes back to public acceptance. The idea is that we could improve the system that's out there, and in that sense, I suppose improve civilization."

The Senate resolution gets its second hearing today. Its companion bill, House Joint Resolution 2, was passed by a House committee last week.

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

A Mississippi-based organization is providing free books to incarcerated individuals to promote literacy and pave the way for prison reform.

Prison book programs have been distributing free books to inmates in the United States since the early 1970s.

Miranda Vaughn, program assistant for the nonprofit Big House Books, said they have been sending books to incarcerated individuals throughout the state since 2014. She explained they collect book donations from the community and supply them to incarcerated individuals upon request. Inmates can request specific titles, authors or literary genres through letters.

"Every person who writes to us gets three books, regardless of whether they ask for 20 or they asked for one," Vaughn noted. "We just send them all three books. They have to be paperback only, and we always ask that they're in good condition. Any time we can send them new books, obviously, we try to do that as well."

Vaughn emphasized they operate mainly on the generosity of individual donors and volunteers. While the organization sometimes receives small grants, its primary source of funding is individual contributions, typically ranging from $5 to $20 per month.

Vaughn added they have not run into any issues so far with the book bans in Mississippi prisons, but some city and county jails throughout the state are a little stricter about what they will accept.

"We are written into the Department of Corrections policy as a book vendor. They have to accept our books," Vaughn stressed. "But some of the local jails and stuff that aren't really under that jurisdiction can pretty much have whatever restrictions they want, and we really can't do anything about it."

Vaughn said this GivingTuesday, they are asking the public to donate more books to help them send 1,000 packages to incarcerated Mississippians. They have a financial goal of $5,000 and she added each package contains three books to educate and transform an incarcerated person in Mississippi.


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Florida lawmakers are being asked to use the winter months to swiftly install air conditioning in prison housing units before the return of scorching summer temperatures.

Ricky Dixon, secretary of the Department of Corrections, told a Senate committee 75% of Florida prison housing currently lacks air conditioning.

Denise Rock, executive director of the advocacy group Florida Cares Charity Corp., a nonprofit working with people who are incarcerated and their families, said she is convinced the sweltering conditions in state facilities ultimately are unsafe. Rock pointed out their concern is lawmakers simply do not see the urgency, or have the will to act, to fix the problem.

"I read someone had mentioned, 'No one has died because of air conditioning.' We've had lots of people pass out, by the way; we have records of lots of people passing out," Rock countered. "You know, cooler temperatures cool people's personality temperatures. That in itself is a reason to provide that air conditioning in those housing units."

Previous legislative attempts to air-condition the prisons have been unsuccessful. Recently, Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, announced House Bill 181, mandating each state correctional institution provide a portable air conditioner or air-cooling system in every prison housing unit. A parallel measure, Senate Bill 296, has been filed by Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville.

With climate change and record summer heat, Rock argued the time is now for lawmakers to find a permanent solution by retrofitting all existing housing facilities with portable air conditioning. She credited the Corrections Department for doing the best it can over the summer.

"Providing cold water and ice in the quads; allowing them to wear shorts in their housing units, which normally they're not all allowed to; providing electrolyte packets," Rock outlined. "But that still was not enough, especially with our aging population."

Rock noted almost one-third of Florida's prison population is age 50 and older, emphasizing the medical need for many to stay cool.

Dixon seemed to endorse the urgency for air conditioning. A consultant's report to senators on Nov. 15 estimated the cost at about $582 million. However, Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Lee County, questioned whether the investment is worth it.


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The lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for Black men has changed significantly from one generation to the next, according to The Sentencing Project's latest report.

In 1981, one in three Black men was likely to be imprisoned at some point in his life. By 2001, the number decreased to one in five.

Nazgol Ghandnoosh, co-director of research for The Sentencing Project and co-author of the report, said the report documents some of the progress in reducing overall levels of incarceration and racial disparities. But at the same time, it underscores there is still a long way to go.

"When we look at the total U.S. prison population, it's declined by 25% since 2009," Ghandnoosh reported. "Mississippi has been reducing its incarceration level as well, by 22%, since it reached its peak in 2008. However, Mississippi has a much higher rate of imprisonment than the rest of the country."

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, Mississippi has an incarceration rate of 1,031 per 100,000 people. Ghandnoosh noted Mississippi, along with Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, has an incarceration rate about 50% above the national average.

Ghandnoosh emphasized other states have used strategies including reducing the influx of new inmates and curtailing the length of sentences for those already incarcerated. She urged Mississippi to adopt the strategies to further expedite its progress in reducing its prison population.

"If we want to eliminate racial disparities and incarceration completely, and if we actually want to get U.S. incarceration levels to be more comparable to that of our peer countries, we also need to do something to tackle rates of serious violent crime," Ghandnoosh emphasized. "And that's certainly something that Mississippi needs to do as well."

Ghandnoosh pointed out the importance of directing resources toward short and medium-term initiatives aimed at tackling violence, steering away from overreliance on incarceration and excessive policing. She contended to genuinely mitigate substance-abuse issues and the related criminal activities, it is crucial to advocate for universal access to effective drug treatment.


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