MARION - Marion Correctional Institution's work camp will become a reintegration camp under a three-tier managed prison system being implemented by the state.
Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, visited MCI on Monday to talk to staff of the prison on Marion-Williamsport Road and other prisons about the state's plan for prison reform. "Our mission statement could be classified as a novel," Mohr said, drawing a few chuckles from prison personnel in the prison's chapel. He said with a mission statement narrowed to reducing crime and the number of instances of repeat offenses "we'd be a lot better off."
By implementing a three-tier system, ODRC officials plan to weed out inmates who disrupt operations of prisons from general population facilities and into controlled environments. Without disruptive offenders, safer and more secure prisons allow prison operators to provide general population and reintegration prisons with resources needed to foster rehabilitation.
The most disruptive inmates will be in control units, which are not disciplinary environments but are intended to control inmate movement and access to other inmates. Demonstration of proper conduct will allow these inmates to move back into the general population. Mohr noted a statewide recidivism rate of 31.2 percent based on inmates released in 2008, that is down from 34.3 percent based on 2007 inmate releases. He said while he wants the figure to be lower, he praised Ohio prison staffs for a recidivism rate that's less than a national average of about 50 percent.
Making prisons safer for staff and inmates must occur for the rest of the prison reform to occur, he said, listing safety, stability and order, service delivery, self-development, and personal and society wellness as the five elements of the reform plan. A steady increase in the rate of acts of violence involving four or more inmates was one factor demonstrating the need for reform, Mohr said.
"Till we get this safety thing together, we're not going to do anything," he said.
Inmate-on-inmate assaults and inmate-on-staff assaults processed by the Rules Infraction Board decreased in recent months: by 12.9 percent from 139 per month from June through August 2011 to 121 per month from September through November 2011; and by 17.2 percent from 93 per month in summer 2011 to 77 per month in fall 2011, according to the Bureau of Research, said JoEllen Smith, ODRC spokeswoman.
Assaults are defined as not only physical assaults such as hitting or kicking, but also can include throwing of body fluid or actions such as spitting, Smith said.
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville and Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown will have a primary mission as control facilities. MCI will have general population inmates and its reintegration camp. North Central Correctional Institution operated by Management and Training Corp. next door will be a general population facility.
"We're dealing with the offenders in a holistic approach," Bun-ting said. "It's not just jobs, it's your integrity, all those qualities and morals, all those things that go along with being a decent human being."
The three-tier program began Feb. 2 and will take about one year to complete the transition from the current system, said Todd Ishee, ODRC operations chief.
Reporter John Jarvis: 740-375-5154, jjarvis@marionstar.com or Twitter @jmwjarvis
http://www.marionstar.com/article/20120306/NEWS01/203060308/Prison-director-details-reform-plan
Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, visited MCI on Monday to talk to staff of the prison on Marion-Williamsport Road and other prisons about the state's plan for prison reform. "Our mission statement could be classified as a novel," Mohr said, drawing a few chuckles from prison personnel in the prison's chapel. He said with a mission statement narrowed to reducing crime and the number of instances of repeat offenses "we'd be a lot better off."
By implementing a three-tier system, ODRC officials plan to weed out inmates who disrupt operations of prisons from general population facilities and into controlled environments. Without disruptive offenders, safer and more secure prisons allow prison operators to provide general population and reintegration prisons with resources needed to foster rehabilitation.
The most disruptive inmates will be in control units, which are not disciplinary environments but are intended to control inmate movement and access to other inmates. Demonstration of proper conduct will allow these inmates to move back into the general population. Mohr noted a statewide recidivism rate of 31.2 percent based on inmates released in 2008, that is down from 34.3 percent based on 2007 inmate releases. He said while he wants the figure to be lower, he praised Ohio prison staffs for a recidivism rate that's less than a national average of about 50 percent.
Making prisons safer for staff and inmates must occur for the rest of the prison reform to occur, he said, listing safety, stability and order, service delivery, self-development, and personal and society wellness as the five elements of the reform plan. A steady increase in the rate of acts of violence involving four or more inmates was one factor demonstrating the need for reform, Mohr said.
"Till we get this safety thing together, we're not going to do anything," he said.
Inmate-on-inmate assaults and inmate-on-staff assaults processed by the Rules Infraction Board decreased in recent months: by 12.9 percent from 139 per month from June through August 2011 to 121 per month from September through November 2011; and by 17.2 percent from 93 per month in summer 2011 to 77 per month in fall 2011, according to the Bureau of Research, said JoEllen Smith, ODRC spokeswoman.
Assaults are defined as not only physical assaults such as hitting or kicking, but also can include throwing of body fluid or actions such as spitting, Smith said.
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville and Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown will have a primary mission as control facilities. MCI will have general population inmates and its reintegration camp. North Central Correctional Institution operated by Management and Training Corp. next door will be a general population facility.
"We're dealing with the offenders in a holistic approach," Bun-ting said. "It's not just jobs, it's your integrity, all those qualities and morals, all those things that go along with being a decent human being."
The three-tier program began Feb. 2 and will take about one year to complete the transition from the current system, said Todd Ishee, ODRC operations chief.
Reporter John Jarvis: 740-375-5154, jjarvis@marionstar.com or Twitter @jmwjarvis
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