Senate Bill 288, the “criminal justice omnibus bill” passed the Ohio General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor DeWine on January 3. One key provision included changes to Ohio’s Earned Credit process which was the focus of a 2022 Leadership Ohio Fellows’ Ohio Impact Project (OIP) led by Rachel Gagnon, Rayshun Holt, Jocelyn Rosnick, Bryan Stewart, and Hillary Stewart.
Earned Credit allows incarcerated individuals to earn days off their prison sentence if they participate in or complete educational, substance abuse and other programming. SB 288 nearly doubled the amount of time a person can earn off their total prison sentence –increasing the cap from 8% to 15%. It also increased the amount of credit available from one day to five days per month of participation for most convictions. Additionally, SB 288 allows the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director to authorize “any other constructive program developed by the department of rehabilitation and correction with specific standards for performance by prisoners.” Our OIP research revealed that access to Earned Credit was limited and there were stark differences in access across prisons. We believe this expanded authority may help ease differences across facilities.
You can read our fellows’ research in full: bit.ly/earnedcredit
For more information about Leadership Ohio or to apply to become a 2023 Fellow, please visit https://www.leadershipohio.org/apply-today-1.