Judge Batchelor exploring reentry program for prisoners

COSHOCTON − Developing a community reentry program for citizens leaving prison is a primary goal of Judge Robert Batchelor for the Coshocton County Common Pleas Court this year.

Batchelor recently delivered his annual report for 2022 to Coshocton County Commissioners. He said numbers for last year compared to 2021 were about the same and there wasn't much new to report aside from Christie Thornsley coming on as the new magistrate.

Batchelor said indictments were up some in 2022 from 2021, but he credited that to some more lower level drug felonies and a few higher profile drug busts by the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office earlier in the year.

In looking at 2023, Batchelor said returning offenders to productive members of society is something new Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy wants to address.

"It's one of the things we were digging at. What's going on with these people when they get out of prison and why do we see so many of them come back," Batchelor said. "We've been talking about it and running into issues the last two years."

The Ohio Department of Corrections has reentry coordinators for each county. However, Batchelor isn't sure what that connection is like locally and he wants to build on that for a more active local program. The biggest obstacle they've faced is funding and Batchelor not wanting to create a new position.

"On a Zoom call, you don't want somebody from the court talking to somebody in prison on a felony charge when that person doesn't have an attorney present. There's a lot of complications with this," Batchelor said.

He's been talking with representatives of Allwell Behavioral Health Services of spearheading efforts. This could include other agencies such as Women of Witness and the Coshocton County Fatherhood Iniatitive.

"Hopefully those will be the volunteers that fill the framework," Batchelor said. "I look for that to reduce some of the crime rate if we can get people engaged."

Batchelor said Allwell has worked with the community corrections board in the past with the focus being on reentry from the local jail. This includes help with finding jobs, housing and drug treatment.

"We'd like to also, obviously, develop that into the prison system. As the chief justice said, they don't get anything more than a check for $50 or $75 and a pat on the back. Because, we know what that's going to result in. They're probably going to be back in court, back in jail and end up back in prison," Batchelor said.

Batchelor said the reentry program will probably be a main topic for the community corrections board at its next meeting at 11 a.m. March 16.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with close to 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Judge exploring reentry program for prisoners