By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The $18 million expansion of the Wood County Jail has been held hostage by COVID. On Tuesday morning, Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn tried to negotiate a release with the county commissioners.
“I get it. No one wants to spend money on jails. They’d rather spend money on bridges, monuments and buildings,” Wasylyshyn said.
“If you’re asking me if the need is still there today – absolutely,” he told the commissioners.
Last year, the inmate population at Wood County jail was thinned in an effort to slow the potential impact of COVID-19 at the facility. Within the first couple weeks of Ohio’s pandemic plan being put in place, the jail population went from 165 to 120. As the pandemic went on, the inmate numbers dropped into the 70s.
But those numbers have rebounded, and Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshn told the county commissioners on Tuesday that the expansion and renovations are still needed.
“We were very close a year ago on this project,” the sheriff said of the expansion project that was first proposed in 2005. But then COVID hit. “We were in a different world a year ago.”
The project is needed to provide more housing for female inmates, more secure cells, plus expanded space for booking and medical issues, Wasylyshyn said. The expansion will increase safety at the facility for inmates and staff, he added.
Capt. Rebecca McMonigal explained that more secure housing cells are needed for female inmates and those with mental health issues.
The current capacity of the jail is 220 inmates – however that number can be misleading since inmates who require secure cells cannot be housed in the dormitory sections. And females cannot be placed in cells in male areas of the jail.
The average daily inmate population, prior to COVID, was between 165-170. But even at those levels, the jail lacked space for females and secure cells, McMonigal said.
Shortage of secure cells in the jail has resulted in the booking cells being used long-term – sometimes for weeks – for some inmates who need intense observation, Wasylyshyn said.
While the expansion adds housing flexibility, it does not require more jail staff, since master control areas are designed in the housing pods, with line of sight to every inmate area.
A decision will be made soon on the expansion, Wood County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw said on Tuesday. The jail expansion will not require a levy or increase in taxes, she added.
“We have been tucking away money, knowing we would have to do some renovation,” Herringshaw said.
“I know it’s a lot of money,” the sheriff said. “But it’s the right thing.”
One of the growing demands on the jail comes from inmates with serious mental health problems. Wasylyshyn told of an inmate who was finally transferred to a mental health hospital where he could get treatment – only to have the facility send him back.
“They said, ‘this person is too violent. Come take him back,’” Wasylyshyn said. “We’re not set up for serious mental health situations.”
The jail is offering more programs for inmates, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and anger management classes.
“There’s such a long wait to get into programs in the outside world,” but the jail can provide them with fewer delays, the sheriff said.
Changes in sentencing laws in Ohio have also contributed to increased jail populations, Wasylyshyn said. Common pleas court judges used to be able to sentence anyone convicted of a felony to prison. However, those convicted of level 3, 4 or 5 felonies may no longer be sentenced to prison.
“Guess where those people go? They go here,” he said, adding that those inmates usually have longer sentences.
While the pandemic slowed the expansion project, it also showed how jail populations could be thinned.
The Wood County Jail stopped accepting inmates from Cuyahoga County, which was the first region in the state to see residents test positive for COVID-19.
Local courts and law enforcement raised the bar for sending defendants to jail prior to their trials. Unless someone was charged with a serious misdemeanor or higher, they were likely to avoid imprisonment before trial.
Across Ohio and in Wood County many inmates, who are awaiting trial, are being held not because of their suspected crime, but because they do not have the money necessary to pay for their release. During the pandemic, many judges reduced or removed cash bonds that had been holding pretrial individuals in jail.
An estimated half of the inmates on any given day at Wood County Jail have not been sentenced and are still awaiting trial, McMonigal said.
Far fewer people went to jail in the first place during the pandemic, with sheriff and police departments expanding cite and release practices. That means instead of bringing a person accused of a crime to jail, the individual instead received a citation and a date to show up in court.
The decreased inmate populations have some people asking if those lower numbers can’t be achieved consistently – not just during a pandemic.
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said last year that he supports efforts to reduce jail populations of people who don’t need to be there. But the current drop in inmate numbers is an artificial level that cannot be maintained as the courts get back to business, and calls to law enforcement increase, he said.
