‘Call-in’ offers aid to paroled gang members to stop violence — or face prison time
Nine young men were brought into a crowded church auditorium and given a choice:
Pledge to stop perpetuating violence and take advantage of available support, or continue on your path and face the consequences.
The choice was laid out for the nine by city of Columbus, Franklin County, and federal officials and community members at a “call-in” session Tuesday evening hosted by the Columbus Violence Prevention office at the Church of Christ at Genessee Avenue.
Journalists were allowed to sit in as observers at the meeting under several conditions, including not being allowed to make any video or audio recording or take pictures during the session.
The presentation was the second the city has hosted. At the first, held over the summer, 17 people were asked to make the same choice. Of those, 16 signed on. The one who didn’t is now facing prison time.
“The second he walked out of these doors, we found out he jumped right back into the game,” said Columbus police Sgt. Shawn Gruber, who leads the division’s gang unit. “One-week investigation … We got all his guns, all his money, all his dope.”
Gruber said the division and prosecutors would ask for him to be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.
The Columbus Division of Police, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children and the Franklin County Coroner’s Office presented the nine men with the potential consequences of committing more crimes and offered resources to aid them stay out of trouble, including help with job placement and financial assistance. The program’s goal is to help the men stay “safe, alive, and out of prison,” organizers said.
The call-in session was based on the Group Violence Intervention model developed by the National Network for Safe Communities, a research foundation based at the City University of New York, home of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The call-in is one of two methods the program uses to intervene before people at risk commit acts of violence or become victims of them. The other is a “custom notification” in which the office contacts an individual and gives them similar terms.
Almost all of the attendees of the call-in sessions are on parole or probation and can be required to attend. Custom notifications are more flexible and can take place quickly when the office is notified that violence may be pending, Columbus Violence Reduction Director Mary Robbins said.
The nine men present at Tuesday’s call-in were handpicked by Gruber’s team, identified as leaders or influential members of gangs in Columbus. They were brought to the meeting as a condition of their parole or probation.
Gruber described for the men the penalties recent gang members have faced in court. Federal and county prosecutors promised that they would penalize the nine and their crews to the fullest extent under the law for any future violations.
Anthony Pierson, deputy chief counsel in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office who has already announced he will be seeking Prosecutor Gary Tyack’s seat in 2024 when Tyack steps down at the end of his term, said he would handpick the office’s best attorneys to prosecute the men if any of them stepped out of line.
Franklin County Coroner Nathan Overmire showed autopsy pictures, including pictures of bullet holes of gunshot victims.
Dominic Jones, co-founder of the nonprofit Legacy Youth Sports Academy, described the struggle he went through behind bars.
“I’ll never forget my first call home,” Jones said. “It was my son being born, and I wasn’t there. I was locked up.”
Jones said he knew then he had to make a change, but it wasn’t easy. He became depressed, he said, and at one point considered suicide. But changing how he lived his life was worth it.
“The road to redemption is always open,” Jones said. “You have a great opportunity here to change your life. I don’t want to bury no more of my homies.”