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| Prison crowding taking toll in Ohio |
| By mansfieldnewsjournal.com |
| Published: 04/29/2009 |
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LANCASTER, Ohio (AP) — Rows of steel-framed bunk beds crowd inmates in one dormitory at the Southeastern Correctional Institution, and whatever cramped space that's left feels even tighter because of the towels, jackets and laundry bags dangling off beds into the narrow aisles. On a recent day, 267 men were in one dorm with less than an arm span between beds. Another dorm, built in the early 1900s, had to pass a special engineering inspection just to hold the load of bunks the state added. That's just a snapshot of the burgeoning overcrowding in Ohio's prisons. Facilities are at 132 percent of capacity and prisons director Terry Collins says the problem is getting worse. "When you're pushing more people into a confined space, then they lose personal space," said Collins, who heads of Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. "When any of us lose personal space, it creates extra tension. I mean, none of us like to have somebody right on top of us." Collins is pushing sentencing reforms in the state Legislature that he says can help alleviate the problem and save money, including slightly raising dollar thresholds on certain offenses that lead to imprisonment, increasing from one to five the number of days in "good time" that can be shaved off a sentence, and requiring community-based punishments over prison in certain situations. He is scheduled to testify in the state Senate on Wednesday. The crowding is not unique to Ohio. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, American prisons moved from 2 percent over capacity to 11 percent over capacity between 2000 and 2005, the period for which the latest statistics are available. Collins said he and his colleagues around the country have only seen the problem grow since. Earlier this month, the United Nations' crimes chief said prison crowding has become a problem worldwide. Violence, theft and a lack of access to programs that could jump-start a crime-free life outside the prison system are all worsening problems as crowding builds, Collins said. Ohio's prisons are designed to house 38,665 people and are currently housing 50,814. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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