BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A jail that specializes in treatment for addiction is scheduled to open in Camp Washington on Sept. 22, after more than three months' delay.
The River City Correctional Center will serve as a last way-station for felons before they enter the state penitentiary. It will offer high-school equivalency classes and job training, especially for restaurant work.
"We hope to give them a final chance with drug and alcohol problems," said Norbert Nadel, presiding judge of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
The delay in opening was caused by difficulty finding employees, said John Baron, executive director of the jail. Judge Nadel has insisted on personally interviewing all 40-plus employees who have been hired, he said.
The $2.3 million center will eventually house 200 inmates, 150 men and 50 women. It will open for 50 men initially, Mr. Baron said, and phase in the others over the next year.
When up to capacity, the jail will need 118 employees.
County Commissioner John Dowlin said he hopes the jail will handle seasonal crowding that begins in the fall at the justice center.
Judge Nadel said the effect on the local jail population will be minimal. There are only about 60 felons serving time at the justice center, on average, he said. And River City is for longer sentences -- four to six months -- than many justice center residents are serving.
Finally, River City will take people with drug and alcohol problems, Judge Nadel said, and not everyone at the justice center will fit that category.
"This is being funded by the state, mostly, and the state is hoping it will have some impact on state overcrowding, not local overcrowding," Judge Nadel said.
