Arthur Swanigan copped a plea in a kidnapping, assault, and domestic violence case last spring and was sentenced to two years in prison for abduction. At the time of his arrest for those crimes, Swanigan was out on parole. A parole that the homeless man had been arrested for violating seven times in two years. In total, Swanigan had been in the Scioto County Jail 40 times.
In addition to those arrests, Swanigan had multiple encounters with police, who discovered him in abandoned houses and answered a string of domestic calls.
Now, the 46-year-old repeat offender is back in Scioto County Common Pleas Court for a judicial release hearing, which is expected to see him released to the STAR Community Justice Center.
A few weeks ago, we specifically asked Judge Howard Harcha about Swanigan. Why keep releasing an individual who seems to have no interest in following the terms of his parole? Harcha said it’s because it allows the court to have some control over the offender. “You might say why don’t you just leave him in there for the 24 months? But once I put them on judicial release, they are on community control and I have some control of them. If I let him serve the entire sentence they either serve the whole sentence or they’re under parole and I don’t have anything to do with that. That means the parole board and the State of Ohio is in charge of supervision.”
The judge says the Ohio Department of Rehabilitations looks for reasons to let inmates out of overcrowded prisons. “There are so many reasons for them to let people out of prison. There’s no such thing as truth in sentencing.”
On December 27, Judge Howard Harcha ordered Swanigan committed to the Star Community Justice Center and comply with the program as a condition of his probation. Swanigan will also need to complete a transitional housing program.
