Ohio prison chief plans changes to system

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s prison chief has sweeping changes in mind for the state’s correctional institutions.

Prisons director Gary Mohr told The Columbus Dispatch that the sale last week of one of Ohio’s correctional facilities to a private buyer doesn’t change his plans to reorganize the system to make it easier for inmates to re-enter society.

Mohr’s plan would create a three-tier system of prisons where, at the lowest-tier, low-risk inmates serving shorter sentences would work in jobs such as truck driving or light manufacturing.

"I want to put inmates to work," Mohr said. "We’re going to do a time sheet every day. He said prisoners wouldn’t be stealing jobs from the private sector.

The middle tier would be transitional facilities where inmates would be put in education, training and community re-entry programs.

The highest tier would house the most serious offenders, such as gang members and inmates serving life sentences. The Mansfield Correctional Institution will be the first to be transformed, with 80 prisoners having already been transferred there.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is wary of having inmates work jobs. The group suggested that inmate workers could be exploited.

In addition to reshaping the prisons, Mohr wants the Ohio General Assembly to pass legislation that he said will make it easier to better-prepare inmates leaving prison for jobs and to adjust to living outside.

First, Mohr wants to expand a program that lets prisoners shave time off their sentences by participating in educational or job training programs. Currently, it is only available to new inmates, but Mohr wants to allow all prisoners to participate.

Another legislative option would increase "transitional control," which allows inmates to be transferred to community residential facilities during the last six months of their sentence.

The third part would be to reduce punishments, such as taking away a prisoner’s driver’s license, that hinder former inmates from effectively re-entering society.

The fourth leg would be to allow sentence reduction for offenders who work jobs in the low-risk prisons.

Mohr told The Dispatch that the plan would create a safer, more cost-effective, less-crowded system.