Ohio Juvenile Sex Offender In-Lieu of Revocation Program

The Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities Discretionary Grant Program was created as a result of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (the Act), Public Law 108-79. The goal of the Act is to eradicate sexual assaults in all of the correctional facilities in this country, be they federal, state, or local in nature. Nevertheless, the statutory focus for this grant program is state and local correctional facilities. This program is divided into two parts: (1) Protecting Inmates and (2) Safeguarding Communities. The Protecting Inmates part focuses on providing funding to state and local agencies for the costs of personnel, training, technical assistance, and data collection in the areas of prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of victims of inmate on inmate sexual assault in a correctional facility. The Safeguarding Communities component of the program focuses on assisting the states in developing and implementing strategies when making release decisions for sexual aggressors without compromising public safety and addressing the needs of the victims after release.

The Ohio Department of Youth Services' (ODYS) goal is to effectively identify and decrease instances of sexual assault, rape and consensual sex within ODYS institutions. In order to fully implement the policy and move toward compliance with this federal legislation and the newly promulgated standards of the American Correctional Association, ODYS has established the following broad objectives for implementation, of which the first four objectives are currently being addressed by the Department: 1) To improve/enhance physical plants to expand the line of sight and reduce blind spots in all secure juvenile correctional facilities; 2) To provide coordinated services and specialized training related to sexual abuse and assault; 3) To implement an effective system of reporting; 4) To develop a classification system in all ODYS institutions; and 5) To effectively treat and release youth convicted of sexual offenses back to the community. This proposal is specifically requesting grant funding to address the fifth objective of effectively treating and releasing youth convicted of sex offenses back into the community. The proposal will divert youth from being returned to ODYS institutions by instead placing them in a community program that can better address the treatment needs of the youth and family. It keeps youth in a community setting where treatment agencies, families and the Juvenile Court can remain involved with the youth.

CA/NCF