Ohio prison system faces cuts

by Katy Adair
For The Post

Some Ohio prisons face closings in light of budget cuts affecting state institutions.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Reginald A. Wilkinson will announce early next week which prisons will close.

Most state institutions face a three-percent budget cut. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is cutting back 1.5 percent, or about $19 million, a figure settled on by Gov. Bob Taft and Wilkinson.

The reductions are part of the state's plan to replenish the budget deficit, said Joe Andrews, Taft spokesman.

At least one of Ohio's prisons will be shut down, prison employees will be laid off and inmate housing units will close, said Andrea Dean, spokesperson for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Some inmates will be moved to other facilities.

Dean said she could not speculate which prisons might close, but she did say the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail in Nelsonville is not exempt from cuts.

However, Cathy Cochran, Southeast Ohio Regional Jail warden, said the regional jail will not close or face layoffs because it is not classified as a prison.

The facility has reached its maximum capacity of 192 inmates and cannot accommodate more, Cochran said. Athens, Hocking, Morgan and Perry Counties share the jail to house inmates.

Dean said Department of Rehabilitation and Correction officials are working this week to find the most cost-effective plan for the prison systems after closings are announced.

Dean said the cut was "very substantial" and left the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction with no option except closing at least one prison.

Transporting inmates to prisons from the closing facilities and the possibility of overcrowding are key factors that officials are "taking their time to assess," Dean said.

The Hocking Correctional Facility in Nelsonville houses a maximum of 450 inmates.

Warden Samuel A. Tambi said more inmates could be comfortably housed by bunking inmates’ beds. But because the facility has to maintain a specified staff-to-inmate ratio for security reasons, 450 is the maximum.