Ohio prisons
Ohio prisons could become even more crowded under proposed bill
A proposed bill in the Ohio House would send more people to the state’s already overcrowded and understaffed prisons. The criminals this legislation targets should be there anyway, bill sponsors say. “Ohio’s prisons are meant to hold roughly 38,500 people — we are about 6,000 people above that mark right now,” Gary Daniels with the […]
A look inside classes at an Ohio prison
This is the second in a series of stories about education opportunities in Ohio’s prisoners. Read the first story here. Dexter Bass earned his bachelor’s degree from Ashland University behind bars. The 60-year-old was sentenced to prison in 1990 for murder and was recently granted parole. Before prison, his highest academic attainment was graduating high […]
More incarcerated Ohioans could be able to take college courses through Pell Grants
This is the first in a series of stories about education opportunities in Ohio’s prisons. More incarcerated Ohioans could soon be eligible to take college classes while behind bars. Pell Grants for incarcerated students went into effect on July 1 — meaning an estimated 760,000 additional incarcerated people could be eligible for a Pell Grant […]
Proposed bill would require Ohio prisons to provide feminine hygiene products
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Ohio law does not explicitly state that feminine hygiene products need to […]
Feds expand Pell Grant program for prisoners working on college degrees
WASHINGTON — Prison inmates around the U.S. are getting the chance to do something that was almost unheard of a generation ago: pursue a college degree while behind bars and with financial support from the federal government. Inmates in 42 states and Washington, D.C., can now get federal grants to work with colleges and universities […]
Ohio’s statewide COVID-19 response failed incarcerated Ohioans
In just over the course of a year since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported, the United States now leads the world with the highest death toll from the virus, as the country surpassed 400,000 COVID-19 related deaths on Jan. 19, 2021. This is comparable to the number of people that died serving […]
Decarceration goals can and should be Ohio’s new normal
The United States has the largest incarceration rate in the world. If the average daily population of those held behind bars in the United States were a city, it would have a larger population than Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton combined. While mass incarceration has always had devastating consequences for individuals, families, and communities, it […]