State recommends new community corrections facility for youth in Hamilton County

Gov. Mike DeWine and members of the Ohio Juvenile Justice Working Group he established are hoping to spark what they're calling "transformational change" across the state and local juvenile justice system.

Starting with some $50 million already in the capital budget, the state is hoping to make youth rehabilitation more accessible by establishing three new Community Corrections Facilities (CFF) in Ohio's three biggest counties, where officials say they have the most intake through the Department of Youth Services (DYS).

"I was even a little surprised," said Tom Stickrath, Ohio Juvenile Justice Working Group's chairman. "Gosh, we don't have correctional facilities, these community correctional facilities, in our three big counties."

Currently, youth in Cincinnati go to the Youth Center on Auburn Avenue .

Ohio Department of Youth of Services

CCFs provide treatment to juveniles convicted of felonies. According to the DYS, there are a total of 329 "funded beds."

"We had situations [where] Cleveland might have a youth in the ... Dayton CCF or Hamilton County might have a youth far away in another community correctional facility," Stickrath said. "So the idea is to keep these youth when we can be closer to home … get that family interaction, that family involvement."

The state said this effort is about closer, more accessible youth rehabilitation. But for youth advocate Dorron Hunter, alternatives are welcomed and need to be maintained.

"Putting kids behind bars, and different things like that, I just don’t see that being a help," Hunter said. "I think the more opportunities we give kids, like taking them out of the neighborhoods, taking them on college tours, taking them on work details."

According to Stickrath, the three counties that will have a new community corrections facility will each decide whether they build a completely new structure or rehab an old building.