As residents at the Ohio Reformatory for Women walk into the prison’s new mental health facility, they see two words inscribed in the flooring just past the front door: “hope instilled.”
The words are part of a phrase said to be often used by ORW’s second warden, Marguerite Reilley, for whom the building is named. Reilley was hopeful that, while incarcerated, the women would develop “the spirit of hope instilled.”
Her legacy continues nearly a century after she started her tenure at ORW, as Gov. Mike DeWine said, like anyone in the state, incarcerated women deserve “the opportunity to live up to their full potential.”
DeWine said the new facility, where thousands of incarcerated women will receive mental healthcare, is crucial to giving them that chance.
The governor was among the state officials and ORW staff members who toured the Reilley Building during a ribbon cutting for the prison’s new Residential Treatment Unit and Outpatient Mental Health Treatment Unit Tuesday.
DeWine said the opening of the facility reflects his administration’s goal to “develop a mental health system in the state that is available to everyone, no matter where they live.”
He noted that the Ohio Reformatory for Women has a total population of 2,146 inmates – half of which are receiving mental health services.
DeWine said throughout the United States, although it is “not the way it should be,” the criminal justice system has become the largest default behavioral health provider.
He said providing women the mental health services they need is crucial to helping them change their behaviors so they can become productive members of society both while they are incarcerated and beyond.
Not only does rehabilitation help the women themselves, but DeWine said it is in the best interest of the state, as more than 18,000 incarcerated individuals reenter society each year.
Chambers-Smith said the new facility replaces the former building that was constructed in 1949 – half of which was already shut down when she was a deputy warden at ORW two decades ago.
She said the new, thoughtfully designed Reilley Building will help ORW’s 50 mental health clinicians with an “awesome place to work that matches their capabilities,” adding that the initial plans were reworked to ensure clinicians have their own office spaces.
“I can only imagine what they’ll get up to in here,” Chambers-Smith said.
The Reilley Building, which has 100 beds in a residential treatment unit, along with outpatient treatment areas, is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified and is on track to earn WELL Building Standards certification, which recognizes the facility’s well-being benefits for occupants and energy efficiency and sustainability features.
The Reilley Building would be the first correctional facility building in the world to achieve both certifications.
The building was also recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy with the 2023 Better Project Award.
During a tour of the building, Social Work Supervisor Tara Nickle said it was designed to emphasize a connection with nature.
The Residential Treatment Unit has photos of nature throughout, while outpatient group rooms have floor-to-ceiling wallpaper depicting nature scenes on one wall and windows comprising almost the entire outside-facing wall.
Nickle explained the facility’s circadian rhythm lighting, which changes the brightness and warmth of the lights to mimic natural lighting cycles. She said the building is also climate controlled.
Chambers-Smith also took note of the building’s outdoor healing garden, which has benches to serve as meditation areas, along with raised beds to grow produce that can be cooked in a kitchen inside.
The Director said the design of the facility aimed to incorporate Reilley’s core belief that the women incarcerated at ORW are simply “human beings” who are deserving of “kindness and respect.”
She said Reilley led the prison with the mentality that “we are not concerned with what they did before, only what they do while they are here and what they do after.”
Nickle said she believes the Reilley building will set women on the path to achieving the future Reilley envisioned for them: “no woman would leave here without a family, a home and a job.”