Plummer and county commissioners compromised by creating the Montgomery County Justice Committee to study jail operations. County officials say that committee and an expert-led study led to the current plan.
Last month, the county announced its plans for renovations to the older portion of the jail, which was built in the 1960s. The proposed $20 million project would remove 226 general population beds and add 100 medical beds to the facility — this would bring the total number of facility beds to 785.
Other plans were recommended for the county’s jail, including the creation of an entirely new facility to be placed on the corner of Second and Perry Streets in Dayton. The county in 2021 ultimately decided to not move forward with the project, which could have totaled up to $202 million.
Multiple recommendations given by the Montgomery County Justice Committee have been implemented in the county’s current vision for the next stage of design for the jail.
Local committee appointed, study begins
Justice Committee members include community residents with backgrounds in mental health, ministry, medicine, advocacy, the legal system, law enforcement and more.
This included Dr. Gary LeRoy, Rabbi Bernard Barsky, Branford Brown, Michael Carter, Stephanie Cook, the Rev. David Fox, Kurt Althouse (who replaced Tony Rankin after Rankin resigned), Judge Greg Singer and Carol Smerz.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office also provided a non-voting member — then chief deputy Rob Streck who is now sheriff — to the committee.
The committee was tasked with reviewing, analyzing and recommending improvements to the facility. Committee members requested the county hire a consultant to assist them in their analysis, and the commission in 2018 approved a justice system planning firm, CGL Companies of Louisville, to run an operations study of the jail.
Both the Montgomery County Justice Committee and CGL Companies worked together to study jail operations and procedures for nearly two years. This work included interviews with jail staff, a tour of the facility and a review of policies and procedures at the jail.
Findings include structural issues, overcrowding
The jail assessment was presented to the commission in 2019. Three common trends were strung throughout the Justice Committee report: structural insufficiencies, overcrowding and understaffing at Montgomery County Jail.
The jail’s oldest portion was created in 1965. Additions to the facility were completed in 1993 and 2004. The jail has both styles of housing units commonly used in jail facilities: direct supervision and indirect supervision. The older portion of the jail contains only indirect supervision cells.
“Evidence-based research on correctional facilities has shown that direct supervision environments reduce the frequency and severity of anti-social behaviors in inmates, reduces violence, and facilitates rehabilitation,” the report stated.
At the time of the analysis, the jail housed nearly twice the inmate population deemed appropriate for its capacity by the state’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction: 444 beds.
Program space had been converted to dormitory housing, so there was no dedicated program space in the facility, and no space for private treatment of inmates. The medical units lacked adequate examination rooms, and no examination rooms are available in the housing units, according to the report.
The report also pointed to the jail’s booking area not being properly sized. This makes it difficult for jail staff to appropriately manage inmates who may have special health needs.
The Justice Committee recommended in its report an additional 59 workers, pointing to a dependence on overtime and poor employee retention at the jail.
Healthcare at the jail
The 2019 report stated that healthcare was hindered by the jail’s small staffing, but also the facility’s design.
The National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCH) sets standards for health care policies at correctional sites.
Montgomery County Jail at the time of the report was the only jail in Ohio to receive accreditation through NCCH, which nationally accredited fewer than 10% of correctional facilities.
But deficiencies exist in the jail, including the lack of professionally equipped rooms and space for mental health evaluations to be conducted with privacy.
The committee in its 2019 reports ultimately recommended that any plans for expansion or replacement of the jail should include a psychiatric care unit and a space designed for “one to five days for the medical detoxification of illicit drugs.”
The jail has seen change since the 2019 report. The county signed a $12.8 million contract for health services with Naphcare in 2022. It is set to expire on Dec. 31 this year with a three-year automatic renewal. Naphcare provides services ranging from health screenings to dental work to mental health and addiction assistance.
In January this year, Naphcare was contracted to oversee jail-based assessments. Naphcare also has access to medical records, so the jail is not relying on inmates to self-report their own mental illnesses and medical conditions.
More recently, this summer the county commission revised its contract with health care provider Naphcare to include the replacement of four paramedics with four registered nurses in the booking portion of the jail.
This decision came after multiple inmate deaths were reported at Montgomery County Jail. This year’s total ― 7 ― is more than the totals of deaths reported in 2021 and 2022 combined.
Recommendations and civil rights
In 2017, the Dayton Daily News revealed allegations that white female inmates were housed in nicer cells than Black female inmates and other concerns at the jail. Sheriff’s office leaders at the time said classification of inmates is done by type of crime, violence, age, mental illness, history and other factors.
The Justice Committee references the allegations in its 2019 report and made recommendations for classification policies, as well as use of force procedures and other policies.
These recommendations include increasing training in implicit bias and use of force, improving the system for filing and responding to inmate grievances and the close monitoring of jail classification for racial bias.
The sheriff’s office has followed several recommendations of the justice committee. The use of force policy has been updated many times in the last few years to alleviate the concerns identified and all employees receive annual implicit bias training, and the grievance system used by inmates has been completely revamped and is now completed through a kiosk and tablet system, according to a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
There is also a grievance coordinator, who is not assigned to correctional duties. Implicit bias training also occurs annually, and efforts to diversify the office’s workforce have also been underway for years, the spokesperson said.
Community, inmate input concerns
A local coalition of community members also concerned with conditions at the jail says more could have been done to include community input and the perspectives of inmates.
Members of the Montgomery County Jail Coalition at Tuesday’s county commission meeting said they felt planning for the jail’s future excluded community members who may be directly impacted by changes at the jail.
“They know the inside of the system, and they know what’s wrong with it and they know how to fix it,” said coalition member Joel Pruce.
The Justice Committee report noted the committee did not have access to inmates for interviews, but pointed to outreach efforts to people who recently were released from the jail.
Only 10 of the 270 released people that received letters from the committee shared their perspectives. The committee stated this pool was too small of a sample size to provide anything but anecdotes, but their testimony was consistent with the committee and CGL’s study of the facility.
Concerns among former inmates were “lack of cleanliness in the jail facility, the poor condition of plumbing and HVAC systems, overcrowding, non-responsiveness of the grievance system, and instances of excessive use of force, among other issues.”
County officials said the members of the Montgomery County Justice Committee were from all walks of life and from all over the county.
Coalition members on Tuesday said they wish the commission would have coordinated public hearings or townhalls during non-working hours in order to collect the perspectives of more than just those who served on the justice committee.
County officials said they’re hopeful renovations for the jail could begin as early as fall 2024.
About the Author
