Section 2967.18 | Overcrowding emergency - early releases and sentence reductions.
(A) Whenever the director of rehabilitation and correction determines that the total population of the state correctional institutions for males and females, the total population of the state correctional institutions for males, or the total population of the state correctional institutions for females exceeds the capacity of those institutions and that an overcrowding emergency exists, the director shall notify the correctional institution inspection committee of the emergency and provide the committee with information in support of the director's determination. The director shall not notify the committee that an overcrowding emergency exists unless the director determines that no other reasonable method is available to resolve the overcrowding emergency.
(B) On receipt of the notice given pursuant to division (A) of this section, the correctional institution inspection committee promptly shall review the determination of the director of rehabilitation and correction. Notwithstanding any other provision of the Revised Code or the Administrative Code that governs the lengths of criminal sentences, sets forth the time within which a prisoner is eligible for parole or within which a prisoner may apply for release, or regulates the procedure for granting parole or release to prisoners confined in state correctional institutions, the committee may recommend to the governor that the prison terms of eligible male, female, or all prisoners, as determined under division (E) of this section, be reduced by thirty, sixty, or ninety days, in the manner prescribed in that division.
(C) If the correctional institution inspection committee disagrees with the determination of the director of rehabilitation and correction that an overcrowding emergency exists, if the committee finds that an overcrowding emergency exists but does not make a recommendation pursuant to division (B) of this section, or if the committee does not make a finding or a recommendation pursuant to that division within thirty days of receipt of the notice given pursuant to division (A) of this section, the director may recommend to the governor that the action set forth in division (B) of this section be taken.
(D) Upon receipt of a recommendation from the correctional institution inspection committee or the director of rehabilitation and correction made pursuant to this section, the governor may declare in writing that an overcrowding emergency exists in all of the institutions within the control of the department in which men are confined, in which women are confined, or both. The declaration shall state that the adult parole authority shall take the action set forth in division (B) of this section. After the governor makes the declaration, the director shall file a copy of it with the secretary of state, and the copy is a public record.
The department may begin to implement the declaration of the governor made pursuant to this section on the date that it is filed with the secretary of state. The department shall begin to implement the declaration within thirty days after the date of filing. The declaration shall be implemented in accordance with division (E) of this section.
(E)(1) No reduction of sentence pursuant to division (B) of this section shall be granted to any of the following:
(a) A person who is serving a term of imprisonment for aggravated murder, murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault, kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, or any other offense punishable by life imprisonment or by an indefinite term of a specified number of years to life, or for conspiracy in, complicity in, or attempt to commit any of those offenses;
(b) A person who is serving a term of imprisonment for any felony other than carrying a concealed weapon that was committed while the person had a firearm, as defined in section 2923.11 of the Revised Code, on or about the offender's person or under the offender's control;
(c) A person who is serving a term of imprisonment for a violation of section 2925.03 of the Revised Code;
(d) A person who is serving a term of imprisonment for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity;
(e) A person who is serving a prison term or term of life imprisonment without parole imposed pursuant to section 2971.03 of the Revised Code;
(f) A person who was denied parole or release pursuant to section 2929.20 of the Revised Code during the term of imprisonment the person currently is serving.
(2) A declaration of the governor that requires the adult parole authority to take the action set forth in division (B) of this section shall be implemented only by reducing the prison terms of prisoners who are not in any of the categories set forth in division (E)(1) of this section, and only by granting reductions of prison terms in the following order:
(a) Under any such declaration, prison terms initially shall be reduced only for persons who are not in any of the categories set forth in division (E)(1) of this section and who are not serving a term of imprisonment for any of the following offenses:
(i) An offense of violence that is a felony of the first, second, or third degree or that, under the law in existence prior to the effective date of this amendment, was an aggravated felony of the first, second, or third degree or a felony of the first or second degree;
(ii) An offense set forth in Chapter 2925. of the Revised Code that is a felony of the first or second degree.
(b) If every person serving a term of imprisonment at the time of the implementation of any such declaration who is in the class of persons eligible for the initial reduction of prison terms, as described in division (E)(2)(a) of this section, has received a total of ninety days of term reduction for each three years of imprisonment actually served, then prison terms may be reduced for all other persons serving a term of imprisonment at that time who are not in any of the categories set forth in division (E)(1) of this section.
(F) An offender who is released from a state correctional institution pursuant to this section is subject to post-release control sanctions imposed by the adult parole authority as if the offender was a prisoner described in division (B) of section 2967.28 of the Revised Code who was being released from imprisonment.
(G) If more than one overcrowding emergency is declared while a prisoner is serving a prison term, the total term reduction for that prisoner as the result of multiple declarations shall not exceed ninety days for each three years of imprisonment actually served.
The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.
Available Versions of this Section
- September 3, 1996 – House Bill 180, House Bill 445 - 121st General Assembly [ View September 3, 1996 Version ]