Others remain in prison because officials can't find them appropriate housing, a condition of early release. Instead they spend years behind bars waiting for a rare spot in a group home or the only halfway house in Ohio willing to take them. Mentally retarded inmates who have served all their time face a tough future, too. Some are sex offenders or violent. They have to leave that day, sometimes with no options, no resources and no money.
Officials say it's predictable what happens next.
A week or two later, they are headed back here. For communities, it's a frightening pattern. He says his agency is seeing an increasing number of ex-inmates who appear to have mental retardation, mental illness or both. They threaten you. The kinds of people getting out of prison these days, it would blow your mind.