Sheriff Jones: New state program will ‘shove felons down our throat’

Butler County Corrections officer Richard Lane stands at the officers podium of Pod B of the Butler County Correctional Center, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

Butler County Corrections officer Richard Lane stands at the officers podium of Pod B of the Butler County Correctional Center, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. GREG LYNCH / STAFF
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Nov 8, 2017
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Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones doesn't think much of the state of Ohio's Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison program, which prevents judges from sending certain low-level felony offenders to state prison.

He thinks the program, which was passed this summer, will force local law enforcement to deal with people who belong in prison. The program is mandatory in the state’s 10 largest counties, which includes Butler County, and optional in the others.

“It’s an unfunded mandate that’s coming our way and it’s going to shove felons down our throats,” Jones said in an interview with this news organization. “We’re going to have to start pushing people out of jail to make room for these people, who should be in prison.”

Explore Go here to read why proponents think TCAP is needed, and why sheriffs fear it will flood their jails with felons.
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Josh Sweigart is an investigative reporter at the Dayton Daily News. His stories have focused on government waste, fraud, abuse and accountability in southwest Ohio, as well as the statehouse and U.S. Capitol.