Ohio Crowded
The Cincinnati Enquirer today reported on the State’s prison system:
“Southwest Ohio’s two state prisons are crammed with inmates – each at nearly twice the number they were designed to hold. And with the state prison population increasing – it passed 50,000 this year for the first time – prison officials, corrections officers and even the governor wonder how many more people the prison system can handle … All but six of the state’s 32 prisons – including the two prisons in Warren County – are overcrowded. “It is a great concern of mine for reasons involving safety and cost,” Gov. Ted Strickland said this month.”
The situation is set to become a legal problem as well as an operational one:
“The Ohio Justice and Policy Center, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit agency that works for reforms in the Ohio justice system, is closely watching what’s being done about overcrowding, Executive Director David Singleton said. Singleton hopes to see changes in sentencing policies to help reduce the overcrowding. “I think at some point we may have to consider some litigation,” he said.