Residents and lawmakers are upset that a privately run prison in Ohio built to house and treat inmates convicted on drug and alcohol charges is housing violent offenders.
Tom Smith, president of the Grafton Village Council, said inmates convicted of violent offenses were never supposed to be housed at the North Coast Correctional Facility, about 25 miles southwest of Cleveland.
The 550-bed minimum-security prison, which opened in February, is owned by the state but run by CiviGenics, a private company based in Marlboro, Mass.
'First, it was DUI offenders, then it was DUI and substance-abuse offenders, and then finally we found out about four months before it was going to open it was going to include nonviolent felons,'' Smith said. 'But we were never told that there would be violent felons there.''
According to prison records, most of the 562 inmates are serving time for drug or alcohol offenses, often in combination with other felony offenses, such as burglary or aggravated vehicular assault. But as of September, 49 inmates convicted of crimes described as violent under state law were serving time there.
State corrections spokesman Joe Andrews agreed that the prison was proposed as a treatment center for repeat drunken-driving offenders. But he said prison administrators informed state and local officials that other minimum-security offenders with substance-abuse problems would be sent there.
John Lonas, who lives on Rt. 83 near the prison, said he is angry that violent felons are being housed there.
'They tell you what you want to hear, and then they go in'' and do as they please, he said.
Lonas added that he expected inmates convicted of more serious crimes to be admitted to North Coast.
'You don't put up a double row of razor wire just for drunks,'' he said.
Smith said he felt his hands were tied.
'We as residents really have no recourse, and nobody seems to care,'' he said.