CINCINNATI — Three months after the WCPO 9 I-Team began exposing parole violators involved in gang-related security threats, violence and escapes at the minimum-security River City Correctional Center, the facility has 50% fewer offenders who violated parole after serving prison sentences for violent crimes.
A recent River City roster has 10 inmates who violated parole after serving prison sentences for violent crimes, which is half the number of similar offenders on the roster in July, according to the I-Team's investigation.
River City's inmate population is down 30% overall from 170 inmates in July to 122 in October, according to rosters reviewed by the I-Team.
"We've seen a significant graduation over the last three months," McVey told the River City Facilities Governing Board during its public meeting on Oct. 20. "Summer is usually a little bit slower in referrals."
McVey didn't discuss the decrease in violent parole violators during the public meeting and hasn't responded to the I-Team's questions about the change.
One of the parole violators on River City's July roster, Thomas Cromwell, had been convicted of shooting a man in the chest and assaulting a baby — and had several mental illnesses and 'unspecified visual disturbance,' according to court and prison records.
Cromwell, 27, was in River City to get treatment for drug and alcohol, but the facility's executive director Scott McVey said Cromwell didn't receive it because he hadn't completed his month-long "orientation" phase.
River City records show Cromwell and another inmate escaped on July 9 by removing an entire window.
A few days later, a police officer shot and killed Cromwell while the escapee held a knife to a woman's throat in a Mason hotel room, according to a recently released Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) investigation report.
"Honestly, I feel like the system failed my son," Cromwell's mother Traci Gaines said. "My son mattered. He deserved help."
The I-Team was unable to confirm if River City has fewer inmates with serious mental health problems.
Gaines and her two daughters — Parris Cromwell and Dahmynique Cromwell — said McVey met with them after the board meeting on Oct. 20 to discuss why River City admitted Thomas and the failures that allowed him to escape.
"I said to him, did you know that when Tommy was in the (Hamilton County) Justice Center he was on suicide watch?", Gaines said. "He said, no."
The family said McVey admitted that River City shouldn't have waited two days to notify Dahmynique — Thomas' emergency contact — that he had escaped.
Parris Cromwell said McVey told them he wasn't aware of Thomas' extensive mental health history, even though Cromwell's prison and court records mention it.
"He said if he would have known that, he would have never accepted Tommy into the program," Parris Cromwell said immediately after the meeting with McVey.
McVey has not answered the I-Team's questions about his meeting with Cromwell's family and what he said to them.
After the most recent River City board meeting, he declined the I-Team's ninth request for an on-camera interview.
"I've answered all of the questions you gave me," McVey said. "And I told you all the great things that we're trying to do and I don't see you reporting those."
Anthony Hornbach, the board member who ran the meeting, also declined to be interviewed.
"We've been very compliant with all your requests and I'll leave it at that," said Hornbach. "We've been very transparent about everything and I'll just leave it at that."
