Much of the state’s prison reform bill goes against the “tough-on-crime” approaches of the past three decades. But reform proponents across the political spectrum say there simply isn’t enough space or money for a tough-on-crime approach for every offender.

House Bill 86 is expected to save nearly $1 billion in costs and improve public safety despite changes that will lower the number of people in prison.

With concerns about skyrocketing costs and prisons hovering at 130 percent capacity, something has to change, said Ohio Public Defender Tim Young.

“If you put the wrong people in prison, you actually do harm to public safety,” Young said.

The bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. John Kasich next week, directs judges to sentence non-violent, first-time offenders to community control, job training or treatment programs. It also increases the threshold for felony theft from $500 to $1,000, equalizes the penalties for crack and powdered cocaine, reduces some marijuana mandatory sentences and allows early release for certain offenders after they have served 80 percent of their sentences. Violent offenders will not see sentence reductions under the bill.

“I think they’re over-sentencing people in the first place,” said Scott Calaway, a Dayton-based criminal defense attorney and former assistant county public defender. “A lot of times, that’s not necessary. Your answer to everything can’t be put everyone in prison.”

Putting lower level, first-time and nonviolent offenders into prison isolates them from their families and other support networks, Young said. Instead, their new support network is made up entirely of other offenders.

“You get a higher-level felon when he’s released,” Young said.

Inmates will be allowed to earn a certificate of achievement and employability, which will protect employers from negligent hiring lawsuits and give ex-offenders a better chance of entering a field requiring a license, David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center in Cincinnati.

Currently, most licenses automatically disqualify felons. With a certificate, the ex-offender will be given “individualized consideration” for a license, Singleton said.

Singleton, whose group helped draft the part of the bill allowing for certification, cited construction work, which inmates are often trained for. They can then go work for other people, but are prevented from starting their own businesses after their prison releases.

There are more than 900 statutes and regulations that restrict employment opportunities for felons, but placing those types of barriers is “a recipe for sending people back to prison,” Singleton said.

Two local legislators who supported the bill said it deals with an issue that has long needed addressed: the need to reintegrate ex-offenders into the community.

“I think it’s a really good piece of legislation. I think it’s going to make a significant difference in returning people to the community,” said state Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering. “I particularly like the aspects of the bill that deal with getting credit for learning some job skills, getting some education. I think it returns people to the community with a leg up.”

State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, agreed that the bill will help ex-offenders, and he also is glad that it equalizes penalties for powder cocaine and crack cocaine. The bill eliminates the distinction between penalties for the two types of cocaine, and for more serious offenses raises the penalty for powder cocaine to the level of crack penalties.

Both Luckie and Lehner said it is important that funding be available for the community-based alternatives to prison. Luckie said the state will have an obligation to pay for criminals sentenced under state law.

“My real concern is do we have the money to build the community-based programs,” said Lehner, who anticipates the facilities will be along the line of the MonDay Community Correctional Institution in Dayton.

Funding is also a concern for Greene County Prosecutor Steve Haller. He said he was happy to see the felony theft threshold rise from $500 to $1,000, as inflation has changed the law’s impact during the past two decades. But he worried about the state transferring costs to local municipalities, who will run many of the programs that lower-level offenders are deferred to.

“I am concerned about the costs of local governments for the fourth-and fifth-degree felon,” Haller said. “Where is that money going to come from, and are we going to get it?”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2057 or lgrieco@DaytonDailyNews.com.