Troubling reports out of Dayton regarding their inability to attract people of color to join the local police force.

The city of Dayton kept its police recruiting program dark for nearly a year and unfunded despite spending more than $550,000 settling a federal lawsuit calling for the city to hire a more diverse pool of police and fire candidates.

The city is being forced by the U.S. Department of Justice to diversify its safety departments as it scrambles to replace a mass exodus of officers set to retire beginning next year.

The city is also paying about $400,000 in relief to black applicants who took the civil service test in 2006, but did not pass or were not hired. It also paid a California-based testing firm $150,000 to revamp the test.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland decided today to commute Richard Nields death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole after mounting evidence pointed to irregularities with the coroner office and investigation of the crime.

Gov. Ted Strickland spared the life of Richard Nields, a Finneytown man who was slated to die next week for murdering his girlfriend.

Strickland opted to give him life without parole. He agreed with the 4-3 vote of the Ohio Parole Board.

Nields, 60, was scheduled to be executed June 10.

The majority of the seven-member board said medical examiner testimony at the 1997 trial was faulty and the appeals court continually had expressed trouble over whether the case had merited death-penalty consideration.

ACLU of Massachusetts Executive Director Carol Rose addesses some of the misconceptions about a recent court case filed by the ACLU challenging patents on individual’s genetic codes.

One of the scariest moments experienced by all too many of us is the call from our doctor saying that we should come in for additional cancer screening.

So imagine how Newton mother Lisbeth Ceriani felt when her doctors told the 42-year-old breast-cancer survivor and mother of an 8-year-old that she should be tested for the ovarian cancer gene, only to learn that a private corporation, Myriad Genetics, owns the patent on the gene in question (the BRCA gene) and was charging more for diagnostic testing than Ceriani could afford to pay.

Fortunately for Ceriani and the rest of us, a Federal judge this week upheld a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation challenging the government practice of granting patents to corporations that try to capture and “own” the DNA in our bodies.

The decision is good news not only for women at risk for breast and ovarian cancer, but also for men who carry the gene mutation that raises their risk for prostate, pancreatic, and other types of cancer. Since 20 percent of all human genes have already been patented and may be affected by the Court’s ruling, the decision also offers hope for new research and access to treatment for people afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, muscular dystrophy, colon cancer, asthma and other illnesses.

An interesting program in Mahoning County designed to teach young people about the criminal justice system.

A new teen court makes youthful offenders accountable to their peers and offers participants a hands-on learning experience on the justice system.

The program, designed for first-time juvenile misdemeanor and status offenders, was launched last month at the Mahoning County Juvenile Court in the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center.

Ten other Ohio counties have teen courts.

It serves as a peer-sentencing court for cases such as shoplifting, disorderly conduct, harassment, truancy and fighting.

The ABJ once agains raises important questions about the use of the death penalty in Ohio.

The state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections wants to know how Lawrence Reynolds, a prisoner on death row, obtained drugs sufficient to cause an overdose on the eve of his scheduled execution. The questions hardly stop there. Once Reynolds gained the drugs, when did he ingest them? Authorities insist they were monitoring closely his moods and actions.

The machinery of capital punishment has a dismaying record in Ohio. A federal court of appeals has pointed to ”alarming difficulties” involving a protocol (now changed), the execution team, for instance, in a prolonged search for a vein to carry the lethal injection. A new protocol has been used effectively three times. Reynolds is scheduled to be the fourth prisoner put to the death, his execution now set for next week, pending his recovery in a Youngstown hospital.

Few people missed the absurdity, the state rushing to save the life of an inmate it intends to execute. Now the question arises: What about the extent of his care? Just enough so that he can be put to death?

Lawrence Reynolds has been rescheduled for execution on March 16, 2010.

Officials say an Ohio death row inmate was attempting suicide when he overdosed on pills two days before his scheduled execution.

Spokeswoman Julie Walburn said today that the determination was made by prisons department mental health staff.

She says investigators are exploring whether Lawrence Reynolds Jr. had any visitors before the overdose and if he stockpiled medication prescribed for him, as suggested by Gov. Ted Strickland.

Reynolds was to have been executed yesterday but was found unconscious in his cell Sunday and hospitalized. He’s back in prison on suicide watch, with his execution rescheduled for March 16.

Prison officials have not identified the drug Reynolds took.

The investigation is being handled by the prisons department with the Highway Patrol.

ACLU of Ohio Executive Director addresses a recent decision by the Montgomery County Sheriff to double bunk inmates at the county jail.

During this time of increased budget consciousness, I can understand Sheriff Larry Sims’ request to allow double-bunking at the county jail (“Sheriff seeks state OK to double-bunk inmates,” Feb. 18). While government officials should make the system as efficient as possible, we must be certain the safety of guards and inmates is not sacrificed to save a few dollars.

Double-bunking may pose serious health and safety risks. Overcrowding can result in increased violence among inmates or toward guards. Also, these facilities often become breeding grounds for contagious diseases that could wreak havoc on inmates’ health, as well as the medical budget for the jail.

Lost in the discussion has been the fact that Warren County’s overcrowding problem is not unique in Ohio. Many facilities have far exceeded their capacity because of the state’s outdated “tough on crime” policies that lock up low-level offenders without providing rehabilitation. Lawmakers were poised to pass needed reforms as part of the state budget, but dropped the language at the last minute.

We must ensure prisons and jails don’t become dangerous for prisoners and guards. But if we intend to make lasting changes to our overcrowded system, lawmakers must reform our broken criminal justice system.

Christine Link

Cleveland

Ms. Link is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

ACLU of Ohio Associate General Counsel speaks out about a recent editorial critical of the organization’s recent inquiry into the use of drones for targeted killings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The syndicated story criticizing the ACLU’s request for documents relating to the federal government’s use of drones was grossly off-base (“ACLU has strayed far from its mission,” February 19, 2010.)

The ACLU has had a long history of ensuring government officials do not operate in the shadows and are subject to full accountability from the American people.

The right to know is perhaps one of the most fundamental rights granted under the Constitution. In order for democracy to function, the people must have unfettered access to information about government programs, policies and actions. Without consistent oversight from the people, there is a greater chance of corruption, wrongdoing or negligence.

In addition to advocating for full government transparency, the ACLU continues to address a variety of civil liberties issues in the courts, legislature and community.

Recently, the ACLU filed a legal brief in the Ohio Supreme Court arguing that cell phones cannot be randomly searched by police officers. The Court made a landmark ruling in the ACLU’s favor in late December 2009.

As the nation’s oldest civil liberties organization, the ACLU has long been on the forefront in the fight for fairness, privacy and accountability. While the nation, courts, and lawmakers may change over the years, the fundamental rights we defend do not.

Karyn Justice

Associate General Counsel

American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio

This proposal before the Ohio House would cost taxpayers and deny needy families resources they need to survive.

A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that would subject Ohio Medicaid recipients to random drug tests in order to receive benefits from the state-subsidized health program.

[…]

Gary Daniels, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, doesn’t see Balderson’s legislation going anywhere. “I have a hard time taking it seriously as an actual proposal,” he said.

Daniels called the proposed law unconstitutional. He cited a case from about a decade ago, Marchwinski v. Howard, in which a Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a previous ruling that struck down a Michigan law that tied public assistance to drug testing.

Daniels said the approach Balderson calls for has been been proposed many times in the past by states but is too “costly and ineffective” to work. He noted that the bill doesn’t mention how the state would pay for the drug-testing program. He speculated that Balderson introduced the bill to appear “tough on crime.”

A happy ending for students at Stow High School who have resumed publication of their student newspaper after administrators attempted to censor articles in it.

Students at Stow-Munroe Falls High School have resumed publication of their school newspaper.

The paper had been on hold since a fight early this school year over what students claimed was censorship.

The students resumed publication earlier this month after discussions between the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and school administrators.

Students were protesting the principal’s decision to ban a photo of a student who killed himself.

The yearbook photo had been submitted by the late student’s parents.

Principal Susan Schur said last year that she feared the photo could trigger destructive behavior.

Mike Brickner, spokesman for the ACLU of Ohio, said Tuesday that an agreement allows for review of content and an appeals process to resolve disputes.

New litigation will examine the treatment of the mentally ill in Ohio prisons. Advocates contend they are not given the support they need and are more likely to reoffend.

Mentally ill prisoners in Ohio are more likely to get into trouble and end up back in prison after they are released because state officials turn them loose without the follow-up care they need, a federal lawsuit claimed Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, asked a judge to order the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the Ohio Department of Mental Health to provide the care necessary to help keep mentally ill offenders from returning to prison.

Advocates for prisoners and the mentally ill said they are suing to help not only the released prisoners, but also the taxpayers who must pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to keep them locked up when they commit new crimes and are sent back to prison.

Soon after the ACLU sounded the alarm on closed door meetings in Cuyahoga County, leaders appeared to back down. However, the ACLU will continue to monitor the process to ensure all meetings are open and accessible to all residents.

After citizen outcry and threats from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, Cuyahoga County transition leaders have decided to make all their committee meetings open to the public.

Martin Zanotti, the former mayor of Parma Heights and one of the most visible faces of the volunteer transition effort, informed The Plain Dealer of the move this morning.

The backtrack comes one day after the ACLU blasted a plan by Zanotti and county Administrator James McCafferty to hold many transition meetings behind closed doors. The committees will suggest cost-savings and other measures to a new county executive and 11-member council that will take office next year in a new, voter-approved charter government.

[…]

Christine Link of the ACLU of Ohio is pleased that transition leaders have agreed to open their meetings but promises to watch closely to make sure they are true to their word.

“We will be vigilant, as will the citizens now,” Link said. “This is an example of the system working.”

The ABJ reports on new scanners police will be using in the area. However, while they acknowledge civil liberties concerns over the new technology, they only present opinions from those supportive of the technology.

Police throughout Northeast Ohio are getting some new ”bionic eyes” to help catch criminals.

The Summit County Emergency Management Agency/Division of Public Safety is buying 15 mobile license plate readers to hand out to sheriff’s offices and police departments in nine counties.

[…]

Civil liberty concerns

Wherever the mobile license plate readers have popped up, so has some anxiety about ”Big Brother” technology moving in and civil liberties being violated. Law-enforcement officials dismissed those concerns, though, noting that law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear.

While the system might help catch criminals, it also could be used to exonerate people, they said.

”We’re looking at license plates anyway,” Summit Sheriff Drew Alexander said. ”We’re just doing it with the human eye.”

He said he likes the system because it can improve safety during traffic stops by alerting officers immediately to a potential problem.

”It gives that officer a little bit of an edge he needs,” he said.

Various community members sounded off agreeing with the ACLU’s belief that committee meetings involving the Cuyahoga County trasitional government should be open to the public.

The public has discovered the first bump in the so-called “road to reform,” and open government advocates are not pleased.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has asked Cuyahoga County transition leaders to open up transition committee meetings to the public and media. “Transparency is absolutely essential to build public trust and ensure that officials are serving the people,” says Christine Link, executive director of ACLU Ohio.

The ACLU’s request comes a day after transition co-chairs Zanotti and Jim McCafferty appeared on WCPN’s “Sound of Ideas” radio show. During the show, Zanotti and McCafferty told host Dan Moulthrop that reporters and citizens wouldn’t necessarily be allowed into all meetings.

A dozen committees will meet throughout 2010 to craft recommendations for Cuyahoga County’s new charter government, which goes into effect January 1, 2011. Voters adopted the charter last fall during a campaign in which Zanotti and other proponents promised government reform.

“It is an inherent contradiction that an advisory committee meant to reform county government wishes to do so behind closed doors without the full participation of the public,” says Link in a news release.

The ACLU joined with Ohio Right to Life calling on Speaker Budish to not consider political beliefs or affiliation when deciding whether one should receive an honor on the Ohio House floor. He reconsidered his earlier decision, but also pledged to re-examine the policy.

Elisabeth Trisler, come on down.

The Shelby County teenager who won an oratory contest sponsored by the National Right to Life will be honored for her achievement on the Ohio House floor after all.

House Speaker Armond Budish’s decision to keep the teen from receiving a resolution in the House chamber on Feb. 3 honoring her award had brought criticism from Ohio Right to Life officials, House Republicans and even the Ohio ACLU. Trisler had been scheduled to receive a resolution from Rep. John Adams, a Sidney Republican, before the House floor session began that day.

But Budish, a Beachwood Democrat, has rethought his decision and now hopes that Trisler can come to the House floor to pick up her resolution. Trisler won the National Right to Life Oratory Contest held in Charlotte last June.

Residents at Lake Local Schools continue to clash over whether “belief in God” should be included under the public school’s values statement.

More residents are telling the Lake Local Schools Board of Education that they believe in God and don’t want the district’s values statement to change.

School board members are wrestling with whether they should drop the phrase “belief in God” from the district’s values statement.

A dozen residents addressed the school board at a meeting Monday night, and 11 urged the district to keep the statement. Ironically, the only person who recommended dropping the phrase is a minister.

The board delayed making a final decision on the issue, primarily because of residents urging the district to fight.

“There’s no hurry here,” Bill Jelen, the school board’s president, said after the meeting.

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The ACLU will continue to monitor this process to ensure that voters are not purged from lists simply because of typographic errors or other data problems.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is completing a plan to address a lingering controversy from the 2008 general election in Ohio that generated national attention, lawsuits and even death threats.

Brunner expects to issue a directive soon detailing what county boards of elections must do when the name or other personal information provided by a voter doesn’t match state or federal records after an automatic computer check.

Preliminary guidelines call for counties to mail a notice to voters whose information doesn’t match so the voters can update their records. That raises concerns among some county officials about the cost and possible voter confusion.

“I’ll send the phone calls to your office,” one county elections official told Brunner after hearing details of the plan at the Ohio Association of Election Officials’ Winter Conference in Columbus last month.

Anti-LGBT rights groups who are against Cleveland’s new domestic partner registry are once again challenging it in the courts.

Opponents of Cleveland’s domestic partner registry, who sued the city claiming it violates the state marriage ban amendment, now want an appeals court to reinstate the case after a judge threw it out.

The suit, filed last August by a newly-founded group and a Cleveland anti-gay activist, was dismissed in November by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph D. Russo.

It is nearly identical to a 2004 case which their attorneys lost against a Cleveland Heights registry.

The Heights measure was ultimately upheld by the Eighth District Ohio Court of Appeals–the same court that will hear this case.

The current suit was filed by a group calling itself Cleveland Taxpayers for the Ohio Constitution and city resident Dorothy McGuire. They are represented by attorney David Langdon of Cincinnati–who wrote the marriage ban amendment–and the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Arizona.

The ABJ makes the case for the repeal of the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

In 1993, the Rand Corp. conducted a study on the effects of allowing openly gay men and lesbians to serve in the military. It concluded they could do so effectively — if the policy received the strong support of military leaders. Put another way, troops would follow orders, the American military rising to the occasion, maintaining cohesion, as it did when Harry Truman ordered the integration of the ranks.

On Tuesday, Adm. Mike Mullen displayed the leadership the Rand analysts had in mind. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee: ”No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

The admiral added that he believes ”allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.” He joined Robert Gates, the secretary of defense, in outlining the process the Pentagon would launch to end the 16-year-old policy of ”don’t ask, don’t tell,” a compromise of the Clinton era that has proved ugly and harmful in many respects.

Ohio executed Mark Brown today, making him the third person killed since Ohio introduced new execution procedures late last year.

Ohio on Thursday executed a man who bragged that he would copy a killing scene from a violent movie, then shot a convenience store owner and a clerk to death.

Mark Brown, 37, was put to death at 10:49 a.m. with a single dose of a powerful anesthetic under the state’s new injection procedure, with death coming about nine minutes after the drug began flowing.

Brown did not give a last statement.

After the single dose of thiopental sodium was administered at 10:40 a.m., he blinked several times, closed and opened his eyes and swallowed once before shutting his eyes a last time.

ACLU of Ohio Communications Director Mike Brickner clarifies a recent headline from the Dispatch that mischaracterized a recent ruling by the Ohio Surpeme Court on a case involving an internet censorship law.

I was disappointed when I read the headline of last Thursday’s Dispatch article “State high court upholds Net law to protect kids.” The Ohio Supreme Court never was asked to rule on the constitutionality of the law, so it is misleading to say that it upheld it.

In reality, the case Booksellers vs. Strickland has been argued in the federal courts since 2002, not in state court. The plaintiffs contend that an Internet censorship law passed in the hopes of protecting children from harmful material may infringe on others’ free-speech rights because it is overly broad and vague. In fact, the state law mirrors federal laws that have been previously declared unconstitutional.

A federal-court judge issued an injunction preventing the Ohio law from going into effect, and the case is now before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After both sides made their arguments, the 6th Circuit decided it would like the Ohio Supreme Court to clarify the scope and breadth of the state law.

Now that the state Supreme Court has clarified its interpretation of the law, the federal circuit court can rule on its constitutionality. Despite what the headline implies, the case is yet to be decided and the law has not gone into effect.

MIKE BRICKNER
Communications director
American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio
Cleveland

After updating its anti-discrimination policy last year, the city of Columbus continues to make itself more welcoming to LGBT residents.

City leaders are pushing to extend health benefits to domestic partners, 10TV’s Maureen Kocot reported Wednesday.

The city was one of the first, but now one of the last employers in central Ohio, to offer the benefits to people who are living together but are not married.

Mayor Michael Coleman is in serious discussions with City Councilman Andrew Ginther to have a plan in place by the end of the year, Kocot reported.

No one is estimating how much the extended benefits would cost taxpayers.

Positive steps being taken in Akron on police-community relations.

Akron city leaders announced plans Tuesday to form a citizens group that would work with law enforcement to enhance communications.

The move came on the same day that nearly two-dozen residents attended a meeting to air complaints of alleged police misconduct.

The citizens group is just one offshoot of an ongoing, 16-week assessment of the Akron Police Department by a national consulting firm.

Another step towards equality in the military.

The military’s top uniformed officer on Tuesday, Feb. 2, made an impassioned plea for allowing gays to serve openly in uniform, telling a Senate panel that it is wrong to force people to “lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

The comments by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, set the stage for the Defense Department’s yearlong study into how the ban can be repealed without causing a major upheaval in the military.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, appearing with Mullen before the Armed Services Committee, announced plans to loosen enforcement rules involving the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that has been in effect since 1993.

The Rev. Dr. Brodie R. Mathis, pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Dayton, sees both sides of the controversial debate.

Some good community policing skills being built in the city of Lima.

Some of the city’s police officers were in the classroom Monday learning new ways to deal with the public in a more gentle tone that should help make their jobs easier.

Many of the people police deal with have just been a victim of a crime or may be arrested. Learning a new way to communicate with them in a kinder tone will help in the overall communication process, said Sgt. Paula Strickler of the Lima Police Department.

“If they’re upset and we walk up and say, ‘What do you need? What’s your problem?’ it may anger them more but if we approach it with, ‘I’m here to help,’ it may calm them down,” Strickler said.

The new approach, which actually is not that new because the department has been training new officers with the technique for the past six years, is just another tool to help police officers do their jobs better, she said.

Retiring Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Director Terry Collins may soon speak out on his personal views of the death penalty.

When the man who oversaw a first-of-a-kind lethal injection wakes up on Monday, he’ll be free to do what people the world over have done: Take a position on the death penalty.

Ohio prisons director Terry Collins retires Sunday after 32 years at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, almost four as director.

The 56-year-old Collins isn’t giving his position yet but notes growing concern over the death penalty, citing cases where condemned prisoners were exonerated by DNA evidence and the cost of trials and lengthy appeals.

The Ohio Surpeme Court rightfully granted a motion to block a gag order imposed by a Henry County judge that would have prevented local media from reporting on a criminal trial.

A Henry County judge cannot enforce his order preventing journalists from promptly reporting on an involuntary manslaughter trial - at least for now.

[…]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio applauded the decision. The organization said there was a good chance it may seek to intervene in the case as it proceeds.

“We’re all about civil liberties and constitutional rights, and we recognize that the press and the public have free speech rights under the First Amendment, but we also believe the defendants have rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth amendments to receive a fair trial,” staff counsel Carrie Davis said.

“The reason it’s important to have this freedom of the press in the courtroom is all about transparency,” she said. “It’s the public’s right to know what’s happening in their government, including the courts.”

Ms. Davis said challenging the judge’s unusual gag order is important, not just for journalists, but for members of the public who may attend court proceedings and blog about what they observe.

“If it was allowed to stand, it creates this horrible precedent that anytime anyone even raises a concern about a trial or whatever proceeding, they would prohibit the press or the public for that matter from reporting on it,” she said. “It really affects a lot of us.”

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled last week clarifying questions about an internet censorship law that is being challenged in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal court may now opt to rule on whether the censorship law is constitutional or not.

The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday, Jan. 27, ruled that a state law designed to protect children from pornography and predators on the Internet applies only to material sent via person-to-person communications, such as instant messages, e-mails and private chat rooms.

The court said in a 7-0 decision that the law does not apply to material posted on generally accessible Web sites and public chat rooms when the person distributing the obscene material can’t prevent a juvenile from seeing it.

The court did not address the constitutionality of the law — that question is pending in federal appeals court.

Instead, the Ohio Supreme Court ruling gives the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati direction on which types of electronic communication are subject to prosecution under the state law.

Briefs have been filed in the on-going trial over whether Judge James DeWeese of Richland County may continue posting relgious documents on the courtroom wall.

A second constitutional challenge to an Ohio judge’s display of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom is making its way through the court system.

At issue is whether a new, self-designed and framed poster put up by Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese in his Mansfield courtroom is constitutional. He says it is. Advocates for church-state separation say it isn’t.

The judge hung the poster in 2006. That was after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 let stand previous lower-court rulings that his first poster, which he hung in 2000, violated the constitutional separation between church and state.

A wonderful editorial from the ABJ regarding the importance of moving quickly on needed criminal justice reform.

Changes in criminal sentencing laws could ease dangerous overcrowding in prisons, save the state millions during difficult economic times and steer nonviolent offenders into treatment and training, reducing the likelihood of repeat offenses. What’s Ohio going to do? Study the matter.

Unfortunately, the study announced last week continues a pattern of delay. Criminal sentencing reform was stripped from the governor’s budget proposal early last year by House Democrats. Senate Republicans advanced a stand-alone bill. It stalled. During recent negotiations on a budget fix, Senate Republicans attempted to revive the idea.

Now, the nonpartisan, national Council of State Governments’ Justice Center will take a look. Policy recommendations are expected this summer.

ACLU of Ohio Education Director Shakyra Diaz speaks out about the need for criminal justice reform in light of staggering overcrowding in Ohio jails and prisons.

During this time of increased budget consciousness, I can understand Sheriff Bob Reid’s decision to house more prisoners in the county jail (”Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid halts practice of paying to put inmates in nearby jails,” Jan. 17.) While government officials should make the system as efficient as possible, we must be vigilant that the safety of guards and inmates is not sacrificed in the effort to save a few dollars.

Overcrowded prisons often create unfavorable climates that may result in increased violence among inmates or toward guards. In addition, these facilities often become breeding grounds for contagious diseases that could wreak havoc on inmates’ health as well as the medical budget for the jail.

Lost in the discussion has been the fact that Cuyahoga County’s overcrowding problem is not unique across the state. Many facilities have far exceeded their capacity because of Ohio’s outdated “tough on crime” policies that lock up low-level offenders for short periods without providing any rehabilitation. State lawmakers were poised to pass needed reforms as part of the state budget, but dropped the language at the last minute, citing a need for yet another study.

Of course, we must continue to monitor our local prisons and jails to ensure they do not become dangerous for prisoners and guards. However, if we intend to make lasting changes to our overflowing prison system, lawmakers must reform our bloated criminal justice system.

Shakyra Diaz, Cleveland

Diaz is education director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

A new step forward in ending job discrimination for transgender people.

The Obama administration, in addition to appointing a transgender woman to a Department of Commerce position this month, also extended equal employment rules for government employees to cover gender identity.

While federal law prohibits federal employment decisions based on anything other than merit, and discrimination based on sex is illegal, this is the first piece of federal policy explicitly banning discrimination based on gender identity.

The policy protects current and prospective employees of the federal government, but does not cover employees of private companies, or state or local governments. Currently, under 40% of the population lives in states, counties or cities that offer job discrimination protection based on gender identity.

“This new policy is a very significant development,” American Civil Liberties Union senior legislative counsel Christopher Anders said. “The inclusion of gender identity in federal EEO [equal employment opportunity] policies is a very clear statement that the federal government will not discriminate based on gender identity. The Obama administration is demonstrating a strong commitment to an effective workforce by making clear that the federal government will not discriminate against transgender employees.”

Despite this ruling, Toledo police must still work to resolve issues in how they respond to calls involving people with mental illnesses.

Toledo police officers involved in three fatal shootings - including one involving a 62-year-old mentally ill woman brandishing scissors - acted in self-defense when they fired their weapons, the department’s firearm review board concluded yesterday.

The five-member board heard testimony and reviewed evidence related to the three shootings before ruling the officers were justified in using deadly force. Chief Mike Navarre concurred with the decisions, which in effect closed the department’s investigations of the incidents.

But for the family of Linda Hicks, who was fatally shot Dec. 15, the decision doesn’t answer their questions or quell their concerns.

“I want to get everything all together - what happened, what happened in that room, why they shot her so many times. I want to know what happened,” said Evelyn Patterson, Ms. Hicks’ aunt who raised her and her two children.

“I don’t feel good,” she said of the incident. “I can’t sleep at night worrying about what they did to her.”

Students, leaders and community members at Lake Local Schools are struggling with how to respond to a recent letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that takes issue with part of the school’s values statement that promotes belief in God.

Mackenzie Michalk and Alex Looney don’t want the Lake Local Board of Education to change the district’s values statement.

The Lake High School juniors also dislike that an outside organization — the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is threatening a lawsuit if the school board doesn’t make the change.

Michalk considers the threat a bully’s move. She dislikes that Freedom From Religion Foundation members are trying to “impose their belief in having no beliefs.”

Michalk and Looney have responded by letting folks know their beliefs. The pair are selling T-shirts to fellow Lake High students and area residents that read: “We value a belief in God.”

The DDN shows its support for Dayton Police Chief Biehl who instructed officers not to ask residents for their immigration status.

Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl is right that his officers shouldn’t be questioning victims or witnesses about their citizenship or immigration status — notwithstanding objections about the policy from the police union.

Let’s be honest. Most times, if that question comes up, it’s with Hispanics, not whites and blacks.

The practice itself can be a form of profiling, which invites lawsuits. But, arguably more important, the approach discourages Hispanics from reporting crimes and cooperating with police.

Dayton police (and community officials) have long been frustrated that they don’t always get the help they hope for from some people in the black community. They say they need victims and witnesses to come forward if they’re going to be successful at locking up the bad guys. They say it’s a shame because so often the victims who would benefit are themselves black.

The Blade discusses some of the great work done by the ACLU’s National Security Project in uncovering some of the government’s abuses in the war on terror.

THE release by the Department of Defense of the names of 645 of the estimated 750 detainees at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan is a step in the right direction by the administration of President Obama.

The fate of the hundreds of prisoners at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the U.S. Air Force Base at Bagram, near the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, is a loose end that the United States must tie up, certainly at Bagram before withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan.

It is important because in both cases the United States has departed from its path of justice and human rights by holding prisoners at these sites for long periods, in some cases more than eight years, without trial or access to defense counsel. At Bagram, until this release of names, some prisoners were held in anonymity, without their families or anyone else except U.S. and possibly Afghan officials aware of their presence in the prison.

The Department of Defense released the names not out of a sense of justice but as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU represents some of the Bagram prisoners and had demanded from the U.S. government information about the prisoners’ conditions of detention, including the rules and regulations of the prison.

The ACLU also sought information about how long prisoners had been held and where and under what circumstances they had been captured. Most are believed to be Afghans captured in Afghanistan, but some are likely to be citizens of other countries, perhaps captured elsewhere and transferred to Bagram. Two prisoners died in Bagram in 2002, prompting charges of abusive treatment.

While Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid’s decision to house inmates at his jail rather than at another is understandable, the county must guarantee that the safety and health of inmates and guards is not compromised.

Cuyahoga County taxpayers have paid nearly $60 million since 2000 to house prisoners outside the often-overcrowded County Jail.

Neighboring cities and counties have always accepted inmates with open arms because the sheriff paid so well. Sheriff Bob Reid says he will stop the practice Feb. 1, in part because increased efficiency has reduced the number of inmates in the County Jail.

But the county’s move to save money could hurt cities with jails that have grown accustomed to getting paid for housing prisoners. Some might even have to close their jails, Reid said.

A judge in rural Henry County recently ruled that newspapers could not report on a trial for fear it would taint the jury pool for a person who was going to be tried for a similar charge in the same case. Local media outlets are claiming this violates their rights to a free press.

A judge’s order in Henry County needs to be watched closely by anyone who values an open society and free press. If it is not overturned by a higher court, it will set a dangerous precedent that likely will be pursued by others in Ohio.

Common Pleas Court Judge Keith P. Muehlfeld has issued an order prohibiting the media from reporting on the trial of Jayme Schwenkmeyer, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering children. The charges involve the death of her young daughter, 13-month-old Kamryn Gerken, who somehow ingested a fatal dose of oxycodone. The prescription painkiller has become a popular and addictive drug among drug abusers.

The toddler was found dead at an apartment in Napoleon occupied by Schwenkmeyer and her former boyfriend, David E. Knepley. He faces similar charges.

The two trials have been scheduled a week apart. Judge Muehlfeld wants to make sure the public does not read or hear about the mother’s trial because the court will need to seat an impartial jury for the ex-boyfriend the very next week.

An in depth look at how the War on Drugs has created a bloated prison system in Kentucky, much like it has in Ohio.

Kentucky’s 35-year war on drugs has produced “brutally harsh sentences,” flooded the prison system with non-violent and small-time offenders and helped push the state budget to the “outer edge of fiscal distress,” the author of the state’s penal code says.

An array of penalties and enhancements for drug offenses have crowded the state’s prisons with offenders who pose little risk to others and who are forced to serve lengthy terms that used to be reserved for “society’s worst actors,” University of Kentucky professor Robert Lawson said in a new report on Kentucky’s skyrocketing prison population.

Lawson’s 60-page study, which has been distributed to some legislative leaders, could provide fuel for changing a patchwork of drug punishments that he says have “failed miserably” to distinguish between minor offenders and major traffickers.

The ACLU recently asked the Governor and state Bureau of Motor Vehicles to stop enforcing a recent policy that may exclude the homeless and many others from getting a state ID.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio office in Cleveland wants the state to cease requiring proof of residence from anybody applying for a driver’s license or state identification.

In a written statement, the ACLU said the orders by Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles policy could have “disastrous consequences” for people either homeless or living in temporary housing.

“These individuals often have no access to utility bills, government documents or other papers that the BMV now requires,” the ACLU wrote. “A state ID is essential for most people who have run into hard times to get back on their feet.”

The BMV says state law is that the agency may provide licenses only to persons who are “residents” or “temporary residents.”