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Family
a major factor in probation offenders
By
Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE
– “Do we have repeat customers? Absolutely! Unfortunately we see
it in families… generations,” said Darke County Chief Probation
Officer James Mollette.
He
picked up the jail roster, noting they check it out every day to see
who’s on it. If anyone is already on probation or has a history.
”It’s
what our parents always told us. Bad company corrupts good morals.
You are a product of your environment,” he added.
Mollette
oversees a staff of seven to handle 405 individuals on probation or
being investigated. They include four probation officers, secretary
Debbie Oliver, community service coordinator Justin Jordan and Murray
Satterfield, a contract employee from Darke County Recovery Services.
Satterfield conducts offender assessments and is the county’s
substance abuse specialist.
One
officer, Mike Albright, works with the low to moderate risk
offenders. These are individuals on basic supervision. John Tabler
and Katy Linkous handle ISP (Intervention Support Program) offenders
for high and very high risk offenders.
“These
are tough dudes,” Mollette said. Regarding Tabler, Mollette said he
“commands compliance;” and Linkous? “She has a way about her
that is effective.”
Jeremy
Bohn does the pre-trial investigations.
“We’ve
only had this position for three years,” Mollette noted. “It gets
us involved immediately when an arrest is made. The way the court
system moves, it was sometimes months before we got involved. Now we
can look at various factors, such as substance abuse and mental
health, early.”
Bohn’s
report is used when determining the risk status – low, medium, high
or very high – along with bond and probation recommendations.
A
pre-sentence investigation includes interviews with the offender, the
victim and officers involved. The judge reviews this information
prior to sentencing. Factors include health, family history, prior
record, and the behavior of the family and other associates.
“If
you’re a thug and hang out with other thugs, that’s bad news.”
Mollette
noted his office only deals with felony probation. The municipal
court has its own probation officers, as does the juvenile court.
Parole is a different story. This is a state office and Darke County
is handled out of Troy.
Many
probation sentences typically involve Felony 4 and 5 offenders, but
Mollette added Felony 2 and 3 offenders are not automatically sent to
prison either.
“Any
case brought before the court could result in community control,”
he said. “We have one F2 who did not go to prison. He was convicted
of arson.”
Other
Felony 2 and 3 examples could include burglaries, assaults, gross
sexual imposition, sexual battery and more.
“One
possible reason for this might be no prison record. A lot of this is
based upon the risk assessment.”
Ohio
uses a standardized tool developed by the University of Cincinnati
called ORAS (Ohio Risk Assessment System).
“It’s
pretty accurate,” Mollette noted. “Prior to this each department…
parole and probation office would do things a little differently. We
operated a lot on ‘gut’ feeling. Now it’s more evidence based.”
The
chief probation officer has been with Darke County Probation since
1997. He noted the current 405 offenders is the highest he’d ever
seen, adding in Ohio the maximum amount of time an offender can be
kept on probation is five years. The probation office’s job is to
take those offenders and “fix whatever it is that needs fixing.”
When
it works, the office tries to reward the good behavior with early
release.
“It’s
unrealistic to think we’re going to correct every problem.”
Mollette noted it would be difficult to track a “success” rate in
the job they do.
“My
hope ‘with realism’ is to say we’re successful a high
percentage of the time.”
Success
stories can come home with an occasional phone call…
“I
worked with an offender in the late 1990’s,” he said. “He will
call on occasion… just wanted to touch base… say thanks… life
is good!”
Published
courtesy of The Early Bird
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