Hocking Valley Community Residential Center (HVCRC) is an all-male correctional facility located at the edge of Nelsonville, Ohio. Founded in 1993, HVCRC is one of eleven subsidized community-based corrections facilities operating through the RECLAIM initiative. RECLAIM Ohio stands for “Reasoned and Equitable Community and Local Alternatives to the Incarceration of Minors.” The RECLAIM model was developed in 1993 as a response to overcrowded conditions in the state’s juvenile facilities. The goal of this initiative is to take low and middle risk offenders out of large Juvenile Detention Centers (JDC) and provide them with resources to help overcome poverty, mental illness, and behavioral issues.
“About half of these kids are in here for what might be considered violent charges but I wouldn’t describe them as being violent,” says executive director Bob Bowser. “They’re just teenage boys.”
HVCRC currently houses twelve male juvenile offenders from surrounding counties in southeast Ohio. It is a staff-secured facility, meaning residents may walk out the door at any time, but the police will be notified. Many of these boys come from the poorest areas in the state according to census data from 2014-2018. Of the top ten highest ranked counties for child poverty in Ohio, half of these are located within HVCRC’s jurisdiction. HVCRC provides individual counseling, group therapy, sex-offender programming, on site school, and even trade-school classes at Tri-County Career Center.
“You’d be surprised by how many kids don’t want to go home,” says Program Coordinator Neil Sommers. “A lot of these offenders have been offended themselves. There was a boy living in a camper with four adults and no running water before he arrived, another came back from pre-release treatment pass with bed bugs.” For some of these boys, life at home isn’t always optimistic. Many of the problems they’re facing are out of their immediate control. HVCRC at least provides residents with a safe environment to help work through generational issues and implement a plan for the future. All names have been abbreviated to respect the privacy of the residents.