Editorial: Act now to stop VOA expansion in Mansfield

The city of Mansfield should do everything in its power to halt the planned expansion of a downtown halfway house.

Volunteers of America said earlier this month the state is providing $700,000 to add 30 more beds to the 71-bed facility, which houses sex offenders from across the state.

Money for the project is coming from funds available because of the the closure of Crossroads, another local half-way house that recently shut its doors.

The additional space would be primarily for serious drug and alcohol offenders, and not for sex offenders, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections.

No matter. We do not want this downtown, and we must act now to prevent this kind of project from going forward.

Proponents will sell this as service the community should support.

But this is exactly the opposite of what Mansfield needs.

The whole purpose of this facility is to take convicted offenders who have served their time and ease them back into society while working to minimize the likelihood of a return to crimes.

This program brings in offenders from around the state with no guarantee that those “eased back into society” will not settle in Mansfield.

Already, Richland County tracks nearly 400 registered sex offenders, and according to the sheriff department website, the population of offenders is growing. It is estimated that 80 percent of all addresses have at least one offender within a mile.

In fact, Richland County already tops the list of Ohio counties in number of felony sex offenders.

This includes Tier II and Tier III sex offenders, who were convicted of crimes including soliciting prostitution, sexual battery, sexual contact with a minor, kidnap-ping, forcible rape and murder with sexual motivations.

Increased capacity in Mansfield only increases the possibilities that we’ll see more offenders in our area.

Former Mansfield police chief and interim Service-Safety Director Phil Messer is among the facility’s harshest critics.

“It’s like having a nuclear power plant at your back door,” he said. “You know the government is doing everything possible, but there’s always the risk that something horrific could occur.”

Local State Rep. Jay Goyal has voiced his concern about the facility.

It’s time for all of us to demand our local elected leaders halt this project.

Mansfield has allowed itself to be branded a prison town with two major prisons. But we can no longer allow our tolerance for our prisons to be taken advantage of with the expansion of this halfway house.

We’ve said it before. Enough is enough. The Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction need to find somewhere else to build their center.