A local watchdog group is calling on county officials to improve conditions at the Montgomery County jail. That comes after a man died while in custody at the jail in late July, marking the seventh death there so far this year.
At a community meeting, members of the Montgomery County Jail Coalition expressed the jail is ill-equipped to handle the needs of the people there.
Five of the deaths so far this year have been linked to drug use. More people have died at the jail this year than the last two years combined, according to county jail records.
Right now around 600 people are incarcerated at the county jail, though that number fluctuates. About 68% inmates have a substance use disorder and more than 40% have a diagnosed mental illness, according to the coalition.
According to Yvonne Curington, a retired nurse and member of MCJC, most people don’t receive any treatment at all while detained at the jail.
“It’s just not right, it’s inhumane, these are human beings,” Curington said. “And there are a lot of people who say ‘well they don’t work, they don’t pay taxes, they don’t contribute’ I don’t care, they’re human beings and they all need to be treated as such. They deserve the same level of respect as anybody else.”
Joel Pruce, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton and member of the MCJC, said the group is asking the county for transparency. Especially as it considers building a new jail with more beds.
“We just want to know, we want to weigh in. This is a public matter. It's a public concern. And it can't just be something that they rubber stamp another grant proposal for tens of millions of dollars without public input in advance,” Pruce said.
Within the last few years, the county has sought grant funding from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to upgrade or build an entirely new facility. Though those efforts have stalled.
The coalition is also calling on county leaders to fund more diversion programs, like the mental health and substance abuse center at the former St. Elizabeth medical facility, rather than jailing people in crisis. Specifically, the group is calling for three main priorities:
- To repurpose the old wing of the jail equipped with health care beds under the care of health care professionals and under the direction of public health rather than the sheriff's office.
- To reopen the bid of the county’s third party jail health care provider, Naphcare. The contract is set to expire at the end of 2023.
- To prioritize inmates at the jail rather than building a new facility with more beds.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's office said it could not comment due to “ongoing legal considerations”. A spokesperson for the county said they're finalizing a plan that will address concerns with the jail facility. But to talk about it now is premature.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
