By Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com Reporter
MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Common Pleas Court will use a two-year $260,562 grant from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to increase services needed to fight the opiate crisis in the county.
A provision of Gov. John Kasich’s budget calls for Felony 5 offenders (the lowest level) to be treated or incarcerated within the community rather than being sent to state prison. The purpose of the T-CAP (Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison) grant, according to ODRC, is to “provide funds to local communities to supervise, treat and hold accountable low-level, nonviolent offenders, and at the same time safely reduce Ohio’s prison population.”
Common Pleas Judge Richard Wetzel said 22 percent of the $260,562 goes toward defraying the cost of housing in the Knox County Jail if an offender has to serve jail time because of failure to comply with community sanctions. The remaining money will be used to “create programming and broaden services within the Common Pleas Court Adult Probation Department aimed at increasing needed services to battle the opiate crisis” in the county. Those services include:
*An additional probation officer to help with programs such as GED training, trauma counseling, anger management and T4C (Thinking for a Change), a cognitive behavior program
*An administrative person to coordinate classroom scheduling and appointments with local treatment providers such as Behavioral Health Partners and the Freedom Center
*Equipment, supplies, T4C books
Wetzel and Chief Probation Officer Lisa Lyons prepared the grant. Knox County Sheriff Dave Shaffer and the Knox County Commissioners supported the grant.
In 2016, Knox County sent 21 F5 offenders to the ODRC.