Future of Licking County jail population beyond COVID-19 uncertain – The Newark Advocate

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Licking County Sheriff Captain Chris Barbuto walks by a dental chair in the medical wing at the Licking County Justice Center in Newark, Ohio on May 6, 2021. (Photo: Ty Wright/The Advocate)

NEWARK -Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Licking County officials are uncertain about what the future of the countys jail population could, or should, look like beyond the pandemic.

Days after the novel coronavirus was declared a global pandemic, the Licking County Sheriffs Office instituted policies that would help them prepare for the possibility of an outbreak, lowering their jail population by 26%. The changes allowed jail staff to make room for isolation and quarantine areas in the jail in case of a coronavirus outbreak.

More:Licking County Jail population reduced by 26% in preparation for coronavirus

Licking County's judges were asked to make a decision on who they wanted to release from the jail and they considered numerous factors including the time left on an individual's sentence and the nature of the offense. For those in jail on probation violations, most of those released had completed a majority of their sentence. Some people were placed on GPS monitoring.

In another effort to curb the jail population, area law enforcement began issuing more summonses rather than making arrests for non-violent offenses.

During a recent interview with Licking County Justice Center Commander Capt. Chris Barbuto, he said their COVID-19 policies for the jail still remain intact.

Licking County Sheriff Captain Chris Barbuto (left) and Lieutenant Craig Ford walk through the Orientation Unit at the Licking County Justice Center in Newark, Ohio on May 6, 2021. If inmates contract COVID-19 they are housed in the Orientation Unit where they are quarantined for 10 days . They are checked on everyday, at least once a day, while they are quarantined in the unit.(Photo: Ty Wright/The Advocate)

"Now we're in a position where obviously any violent felony or misdemeanor or probation violation that's done from a violent felony or misdemeanor, we take regardless of a screening. We do have a screening process," he said. "Even if an inmate is on a misdemeanor charge or OVI commit, if we have the space, we will take them."

He explained if an inmate is refused due to a screening, the jail will incarcerate the individual depending on the circumstances.

According to Barbuto, some of their screening involves checking for temperatures and any COVID-related symptoms, along with whetherthe individual had been around anyone with symptoms recently.

More:Licking County jail COVID-19 restrictions create revolving door for Newark property crime

Looking to the future, Barbuto said their agency has been and will continue taking their guidance from the Ohio Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevnention, and the Licking County Health Department.

"We are learning as a facility the way the community is learning how to operate with COVID. I don't know as far as the future, what the jail will look like," Barbuto said. "Obviously we want the pandemic to end and go back to the way we were, but we continue to take our clearance from the CDC and health departments."

Barbuto emphasized that area law enforcement, the probation departments, the judges and the jail have worked well to balance those who need to be in the jail with the health and safety of the jail community, and the public. He also noted the Licking County Health Department recently began vaccinating inmates for COVID-19 on a voluntary basis.

According to data provided by the Licking County Prosecutor's Office, their agency had 702 cases filed as either an indictment or a warrant in 2020. Of that number, 232 involved violent offenses.

One of the exam rooms in the medicals wing at the Licking County Justice Center in Newark, Ohio on May 6, 2021.(Photo: Ty Wright/The Advocate)

As of May this year, the agency has filed 270 cases as either an indictment or warrant and of those, 68 have involved violent offenses.

When it comes to the jail population, Licking County Common Pleas Judge David Branstool said he thought as things open up and life resumes in some ways to how it used to be, whatever processes the jail has in place now may go away.

If that all goes away, will the jail population increase? Maybe, the judge said. He explained court officials have struggled in cases where an individual is on pre-trial release or on community control supervision and for example, continue to use substances. Branstool said its been hard to deal with situations like that because sometimes their only option is to save the person from themselves through temporary incarceration.

Adult Court Services Director Michele Hamann said their department has been challenged to look at other options aside from incarceration.

What do we do with people other than putting people in jail? Hamann questioned. I think thats always going to be a challenge and that still needs to continue to be a challenge even when the jail opens, is what do we do with people that struggle with mental health, substance abuse, (and other things)?

Licking County Sheriff Captain Chris Barbuto (left) and Lieutenant Craig Ford walk through the Orientation Unit at the Licking County Justice Center in Newark, Ohio on May 6, 2021. If inmates contract COVID-19 they are housed in the Orientation Unit where they are quarantined for 10 days . They are checked on everyday, at least once a day, while they are quarantined in the unit.(Photo: Ty Wright/The Advocate)

The director said she understands they have to look at how they handle non-violent offenders in a different way. She noted their agency is already doing that through T-CAP, or Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison. Their office, she said, does a good job looking at other avenues and are working to come up with different ways to sanction people, but in some cases, said they need to be able to "back up their bark."

According to Hamann, their agency used GPS units on probationers less in 2020 than in 2019. She noted their biggest use of the devices was when they were in the office more, toward the end of 2020.

"If we could not get people in jail, we used GPS and house arrest - things we typically do now," she explained. "The success was not always great, because we could stop them from using and sometimes absconding."

At Licking County Municipal Court, Judge David Stansbury said the countywont reach one day suddenly where people say the pandemic is over and were back to normal.

Its going to be a fluid transition. I think its a very complicated situation because jail space is at even more of a premium given the limitations on the common pleas court judges in imposing prison sentences, Stansbury said.

Although he wasnt certain how he compares to other judges when it comes to incarcerating individuals upon conviction, he said I will probably still continue to be reluctant to impose jail time on offenses that arent violent for the reason we want to keep the pressure off the jail as far as their population is concerned.

Although Licking County officials are uncertain what the jail population could look like after a return to some normalcy, they agreed some things brought on by the COVID-19 pandemicwill remain.

Branstool said COVID-19 has opened a lot of eyes in the judicial system to different processes.

"It's been over a year now that we've kind of experienced this first shutdown. And we've adapted the best we've been able to, and that means we've done a lot more video conferences, video hearings when thats a possibility, Branstool said. And a lot of times that means were setting up video conferences with incarcerated peopleThe impetus for that was COVID.

A dental chair is seen in the medical wing at the Licking County Justice Center in Newark, Ohio on May 6, 2021.(Photo: Ty Wright/The Advocate)

Branstool said he thought video conferences would likely continue beyond the pandemic for things like competency and sanity hearings.

According to Stansbury, his court switched over to telephone pre-trial conferences early in the pandemic and because it's more efficient, that will likely continue. Municipal court also established three YouTube channels for the public to watch court proceedings and weddings.

"As far as the jail is concerned, we adapted when it was really rough to get anyone in there, when they had some significant concerns about COVID," Stansbury said. "We did use GPS units, strict house arrest...(for example) in lieu of putting someone in jail for three days for a drug court sanction. As far as offenses of violence are concerned, nothing has changed from pre-COVID cases. Those cases obviously take priority."

More: Licking County sees record number of accidental drug deaths in 2020

Hamann said like others, their department, including theday reporting program, began using Zoom and making video contact through their case management system, Ohio Community Supervision System during the pandemic. Looking ahead, Hamann said they're planning to keep in contact with some, such as some diversion cases, through video.

In addition to using those video programs, Hamann said their agency filed motions to revoke someone's probation quicker for community safety, noting normally they try to use other sanctioning tools before revoking probation. After they were allowed more contact, she said they increased drug testing, physical reporting and sent people to as many treatment locations that were accepting people. She noted a concern about drug overdoses.

"I think when you talk about what did we learn from this, it's better use of technology and video," Hamann said, the pandemic encouraged people to think outside the box at other options available.

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Future of Licking County jail population beyond COVID-19 uncertain - The Newark Advocate