Hamilton County Needs a New Jail...a Lenghty Blog

Ok, I haven’t touched on the Hamilton County Jail issue yet, because I didn’t really think I had much to say. Thoughts tend to lie dormant in my mind and suddenly I’ve got so much to say and so little time. Comments made last week by our own Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis (who couldn’t look or act MORE like the poster child for “Grumpy Old Men”) and some random lady from Westwood or Cheviot or who cares because the west side is all the same, caused me to become conscious of my feelings concerning this issue. I’ll start with the latter of the two comments.

Random Lady says, “If you don’t want to build a new jail I’m sure Sheriff Simon Leis will be more than happy to drop these criminals off at your house so you can baby sit them.” Yeah, that might not be a direct quote, so don’t lynch me. She did say that part about baby sitting though, which I think is hilarious. Number one, threatening to drop criminals off at people’s houses, mental image = more than mildly amusing. Plus it beats the heck out of dropping them off in Butler County. What if they escape?! Well, then they’d have to contend with Big Rick Jones, and he pretty much hates everyone I think. Number two, comparing Hamilton County’s finest to glorified baby sitters, well, I wouldn’t go THAT far, but I’d say she had just about hit the nail on the head. Stay with me here. Without adequate jail space what other choice do they have than to just release these animals into the wild and hope for the best? All they can do is hope these buffoons show up for their court dates and/or report to their probation/parole officers.

The Hamilton County sheriff’s office is NOT being paid to baby sit criminals, they are being paid to protect the public. How do you expect them to do their job affectively if they don’t have adequate support or tools? This is like telling a journalist to go report a story with a stone tablet and a chisel! I can’t believe the issue of a new jail is even being debated. With several thousand criminals being released in the last several years due to lack of space and NOW Hamilton County is housing criminals in Butler County because Butler has excessive jail space, the jail problem is obvious.

It’s the 34th week of 2006, as of last Sunday there were 56 homicides in this city and the City of Cincinnati is more concerned with catching speeders and red light runners than protecting us from thieves and murders. You find the sense in that, because I haven’t got a clue. Here’s a thought city council, you take that money you want to use for traffic cameras and you put it towards a new jail. A REAL jail, not this tent city pipe dream Leslie Ghiz is dreaming about. 2 weeks ago I was driving up I-71, and within the span of 1 mile I saw 6 CPD officers and a State Highway Patrolman. The Highway Patrol was gunning speeders and then the CPD officers were pulling them over. There were 3 people pulled over, and 3 officers in waiting. Are you telling me that with more than one person being murdered a week in this crazy city, 6 officers should be sitting between Dane Avenue and the Smith-Edwards Exit? Give me a break Cincinnati. Go find the douche that donkey kicked my door!

Now, onto the sheriff’s comments. Simon says we need to support a new jail “for our own safety”. AWESOME! I think the sheriff should take notes from the bums about proper ways to beg the middle class for money. Telling people their personal safety is being jeopardized is NOT going to make them give you $225 million for a new jail. It’s going to make them start looking for a new county to call home. Get with it guys, the population of Cincinnati (or just Hamilton County in general) for 2 big reasons, that happen to be married to each other. Crime and a school system that is not only crime-ridden, but is sub-par in comparison to more suburban schools.

Cincinnati Public Schools graduated only 77% of it’s seniors last year. Rounding out the worst of the worst are Aiken, Withrow, and Wooward. These schools were only graduating between 40% and 60% of students in the last few years. Now, my mom is a Withrow grad (I won’t name the year) and according to her, you didn’t even have to show up regularly to just pass. The only suburban schools that can even come close to these low marks are: Hamilton High School (74.2%), New Miami Jr/Sr High School (72%), and Amelia High School (78.8%). For those of you not familiar with these areas, they are mostly lower income areas. The rich kids in Hamilton actually attend neighboring Fairfield and Lakota schools. Cincinnati is trying to combat this issue, but a lack of education leads to a lack of growth and employment opportunities, which leads to crime. Doesn’t take a genius to solve that problem, does it? Meanwhile, suburban schools such as the aforementioned Fairfield and Lakota schools as well as, Little Miami and Mason are boasting over 90% graduation rates.

Now, to the end of my lengthy rant. Do I believe we need a new jail? Absolutely. Do I believe it should cost $225 million to erect. Not a chance. There is already some jail space existing (granted it’s full of criminals at the time), but the space is there nonetheless. A new structure is needed, but beyond that and the increased manpower to staff the building, all that’s really needed is some good books, which I’m sure if he asked nicely, Simon could get donated. That’s right, I think criminals should spend their jail time reading books. Required book reports might not be a bad idea. At least then they’d be forced to get some sort of education…