Prison overcrowding gets attention after inmate census spikes

July 31, 2006 - It’s something OCSEA leadership has been saying for years, particularly since the closures of Lima and Orient correctional institutions: Prison overcrowding is a huge safety concern. Add to that the elimination of hundreds of front line security positions in recent years, and you have a potential for disaster.

And, finally, someone agrees.

Terry Collins, the new Director of DR&C recently issued a memo confirming what the union has known for years. In it, Collins sites figures that show the inmate census and staff overtime climbing steadily.

It’s estimated that the inmate population is rising at least 6 percent a year, and in the near future could rise as much as 15 percent a year. Nationally, the inmate population is climbing 8 percent per year. Correction officer overtime pay out grew by more than $4.5 million in the last fiscal year.

But will anything be done about it?

Executive Director Andy Douglas and DR&C Assembly President Tim Shafer recently met with Collins to discuss various scenarios.

One of the solutions would mean opening up closed cellblocks in six prisons and adding 1,300 beds. This would at least dilute the population in places like Lorain Correctional Institution, which is at almost 250 percent capacity.

It’s expected the beds will open in the Pickaway, Ross, Mansfield, Marion, Warren and Toledo institutions.

Unfortunately, budget concerns might limit how far DR&C can go in correcting the problem.

“The Tax and Expenditure Limitation (TEL) now in statute could severely limit the state’s ability to respond to trends such as this,” said Douglas. “They can open beds, but if they don’t increase staff too, they’re only solving half the problem.”

An additional hindrance to increasing staff is the increased cost in health care for inmates. “We are being told there’s no money for more COs because of inmate health care in particular. It has cost a fortune,” said Shafer.

Recently, DR&C came up short in their budget by $3 million for inmate health care. That caused them to move that amount from an operations line item.

Ohio’s newspapers have speculated that either Lima Correctional Institution or Orient or both could reopen. But others believe that’s unlikely.

First, parts of Orient are already being used by the neighboring Frazier Medical Center and inmate work crews who work on the farm at the nearby Pickaway prison. More importantly, no one believes that Gov. Taft will admit he made a mistake by closing the Lima prison.

But maybe making decisions based on good government, rather than winning elections and downsizing government at any cost, would help Ohio avoid another Lucasville. 

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