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 Many facilities have far exceeded their capacity because of Ohio’s outdated “tough on crime” policies that lock up low-level offenders for short periods without providing any rehabilitation.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.”

Another shocking story comes out about the federal government’s ineffective, error-ridden terrorist watch lists.

The Transportation Security Administration, under scrutiny after last month’s bombing attempt, has on its Web site a “mythbuster” that tries to reassure the public.

Myth: The No-Fly list includes an 8-year-old boy.

Buster: No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list.

“Meet Mikey Hicks,” said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle because he shares the name of a suspicious person. “It’s not a myth.”

Local activists are rallying around Dayton Police Chief Biehl after he rightfully instructed officers not to ask for a person’s immigration status when investigating a scene.

Police Chief Richard Biehl got a show of support from Dayton’s Hispanic community for prohibiting officers from asking the immigration status of a witness or victim of a crime.

Sister Maria Stacy, director of the local Hispanic Catholic Ministry, Lucia Prier, a social worker at the East End Community Services Center and David E. Larson, an immigration lawyer, commended Biehl’s action during the City Commission meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 13.

“I think the police chief was courageous to issue the policy directive. It was the right thing to do from a human rights and a safety standpoint,” said Larson, recently appointed to Dayton’s Human Relations Council. “It is impossible for any of us to know the extent that crime goes unreported.”

Dayton resident Juan Arias said he believes the executive order lays the groundwork for a better society, a better future.

“I stand before you a human being and ask my rights to be respected,” he said.

Invasive and possibly ineffective body scanners will be implemented soon in Columbus and several other airports around the country.

If you plan to fly from Port Columbus when the weather warms up, there’s a good chance you’ll have to step into a full-body scanner first.

The airport expects to receive at least two full-body scanners by late spring or early summer to enhance its security screenings.

Airport officials are awaiting final confirmation and further details from the Transportation Security Administration, which will pay for and operate the scanners. Columbus had been put on a list by the TSA last year to receive the full-body scanners, said Rod Borden, chief operating officer of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.

TSA spokesman Jon Allen said the 150 body scanners the TSA has already secured are manufactured by Rapiscan and cost $160,000 apiece. They will be distributed across the country in coming months.

A student columnist at OSU’s Lantern makes strong points about how the U.S. should be handing terroist threats and improving security.

The war on terrorism is changing the world we live in at an astonishing pace. After the recent developments with the so-called “underwear bomber” and a double agent that took the lives of eight high-level CIA operatives in Afghanistan, authorities in the United States are scrambling to beef up security at home and abroad.

In the end, strengthening the Patriot Act and concocting all sorts of new measures will not ensure peace of mind for the American people. We are playing a high stakes game where civil liberties are beginning to play second fiddle to national security.

At first glance, this would seem like a marvelous idea. Let’s put armed guards in every terminal sporting camouflaged fatigues and grenade-launching M-16 machine guns, just like in the good old days. While we are at it, let’s put up 15-foot walls around our homes, complete with barbed wire and an observation deck with a guy dressed in medieval garb brandishing a bow with flaming arrows.

Some would argue that we have no other choice but to become more like a “police state,” akin to some horrible nightmare from George Orwell’s novel “1984.” This is a dangerous slippery slope and before you know it we might be living in a world where Big Brother constantly watches us, tells us what to think and how to act. If anything, we are well on our way.

Kudos to Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl who has taken a step in improving relations between immigrant communities and local police.

City police officers are now prohibited from asking the immigration status of a witness or victim of a crime in hopes it eases fears some ethnic groups have of law enforcement.

Police Chief Richard Biehl issued the executive order to his nearly 390 officers on Dec. 30 telling them, “Citizens must feel free to call for police services without fear of undue repercussions.”

Biehl’s order, aimed mostly at the Latino community, goes on to say a “Police presence within the entire community is extremely important to engender a feeling of safety and trust…”

The order is being cheered by the city’s Hispanic community, whose leaders have said many victims of crimes who can’t provide documented citizenship don’t report incidents to police because they fear being arrested or even deported.

Attorneys for Romell Broom discover some disturbing information about the training and qualifications of one of the members of the execution team.

One of the executioners involved in last year’s botched attempt to put a man to death was under-trained and failed to attend all required rehearsals for the Sept. 15 execution, lawyers said in court filings.

The employee’s prison job does not require him to establish intravenous access on a regular basis, and he has not regularly inserted IV lines except in executions since 2004 and not at all in the past year, according to a filing by condemned inmate Romell Broom, whose execution was halted by Gov. Ted Strickland, and a related filing by inmates challenging Ohio’s injection method.

The executioner known as Team Member 21 is a full-time prison employee and licensed emergency medical technician who has not worked as an EMT for several years, according to the documents filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus on Friday.

The filing by inmates challenging the injection method also said the prison system has consistently permitted executioners who didn’t receive required training or missed rehearsals to participate in executions anyway.

State lawmakers have still not come to a resolution on whether young people who sext will be charged with as sex offenders. While the ACLU supports not charging underage people with felonies, we advocate that this should not be a matter for criminal courts, but for education of students and parents.

A Warren County state representative is concerned a bill crafted a year ago to address “sexting” between minors has not passed the legislature.

State Rep. Ron Maag, R-Lebanon said he’s reached out to state Rep. Tyrone Yates, D-Cincinnati, who chairs the House Criminal Justice Committee, on Substitute House Bill 132, which would make the creation, exchange and possession of nude materials between minors by a telecommunication device a first-degree misdemeanor.

The bill would not rule out the possibility of a felony charge, which could be reserved for cases where the true intent of the crime is malicious.

Today, Ohio executed another person using an experiemntal one-drug procedure.

Ohio executed a man Thursday for the shooting death of a shopkeeper during a 1993 robbery, successfully using its new one-drug lethal injection method for the second time.

Vernon Smith, 37, was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m., eight minutes after the single dose of sodium thiopental began flowing at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. That was faster than the 10 minutes it took for Kenneth Biros to die during the state’s first execution with a single drug last month.

The single drug injection replaced the standard three-chemical combination that has come under legal attack by attorneys who say it can cause excruciating pain.

Experts had initially predicted the method would result in more drawn out executions. But the time it took Biros and Smith to die was about as long as it has taken other inmates in Ohio and elsewhere to succumb to the three-drug combination.

Ohio plans to carry out another execution tomorrow, January 7th.

Standing at their father’s grave with snow skirting their ankles, Mona and Dolly Darwish recited the opening verses of the Qur’an.

It was both a birthday wish and a sign of respect for Sohail Darwish, a father they never really knew but who is kept alive through stories, photographs, and this solemn annual tradition done every year on Dec. 22.

On this visit, the girls - Mona, 16, and Dolly, 17 - wished their father what would have been a happy 45th birthday.

It was on May 26, 1993, just days before Dolly’s first birthday and months before Mona was born, that two men entered the central-city store that Sohail and Charlotte Darwish owned. A third man waited in a car outside.

The Dispatch makes a persuasive argument for keeping teachers’ records open to the public.

If the Ohio Education Association has its way, it will withhold from the public the addresses of those who hold Ohio teaching licenses. If the teachers union succeeds, Ohio parents, who have more of an interest than anyone in the backgrounds of those who teach their children, will be blocked from one of the few avenues to get that information.

In November, the Ohio Republican Party sought the names, addresses and other contact information of all Ohio teachers from the Ohio Department of Education. The GOP intended to send materials to teachers about its positions on education.

The OEA sued the Education Department in the Franklin County Common Pleas court, trying to prohibit anyone from getting hold of the list.

People understandably are protective of their privacy. But public servants, by virtue of being the employees of the taxpayers, should expect to receive more scrutiny than private-sector workers. The public that employs and pays government workers has a right to know who they are. That goes double for public servants entrusted with the care of children.

2009 was a chaotic year for the death penalty in the United States.

Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.

There were other important death penalty developments last year: the number of death sentences continued to fall, Ohio switched to a single chemical for lethal injections and New Mexico repealed its death penalty entirely. But not one of them was as significant as the institute’s move, which represents a tectonic shift in legal theory.

“The A.L.I. is important on a lot of topics,” said Franklin E. Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “They were absolutely singular on this topic” — capital punishment — “because they were the only intellectually respectable support for the death penalty system in the United States.”

A wonderful victory from the Ohio Supreme Court for criminal justice rights and fair trials over the holiday break.

A better criminal justice system is coming to Ohio.

The Ohio Supreme Court recently approved new rules governing pretrial procedures that will help ensure those convicted of crimes are truly guilty, according to Thomas Moyer, chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court.

The amendment to Rule 16 of the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure will require greater sharing of evidence between prosecutors and defense attorneys before trial.