The intensive probation program in Cincinnati’s Hamilton County is so ineffective that the convicts in it are more likely to commit crimes than others convicted of similar crimes who never receive supervision, says the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. That poor showing comes despite the fact the county gets the most state money and spends more per probationer than other urban counties, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Hamilton County Program’s success rate of 29 percent is the worst in the state. Prison officials threaten to yank the $1.7 million they give the county court for the program, which is designed to keep people out of prison. Mike Walton, who oversees Hamilton County’s Probation Department, defended the program, saying the people in it are among the most difficult to supervise and that the state is looking at the issue from a fiscal perspective, not a public safety one.