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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Ohio Prison Leader: Success Not Measured Behind Bars

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Thursday, August 11, 2016   

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio is being recognized for its work to change its approach to corrections.

The American Correctional Association (ACA) has presented its Lucy Webb Hayes Award to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The award goes to agencies that demonstrate a strong commitment to public safety.

Since becoming the department's director in 2011, Gary Mohr has been vocal about the need for reforms. He explains the first step was changing the department's page-and-a-half-long mission statement about safety, security and confinement, to just one line.

"'To reduce recidivism among those we touch,'” he says. “And that's it. And not everybody agrees with it, but by golly, everybody knows it, and that changes everything.

“What it basically says is that our success is going to be measured in the community, not inside the prison."

Mohr notes the award is a reflection of the dedication and commitment of the 12,000 corrections employees.

This is the first year for the Lucy Webb Hayes Award, which recognizes agencies that achieved 100 percent compliance with the standards of ACA accreditation and the Prison Rape Elimination Act.

At 27 percent, Ohio's recidivism rate is about half the national average. But the state's prison population of about 50,000 is near its record high, and facilities are 30 percent over capacity.

Mohr maintains there are too many nonviolent offenders with drug convictions who could be better served in a community setting.

"If I could wave a magic wand, I would be reducing our budget, moving the money earlier in people's lives out into the community to prevent this, because once somebody comes to prison, they develop potentially a life sentence of collateral consequences," he states.

Mohr contends people who are incarcerated need opportunities that will help them succeed once they're released.

In Ohio, those efforts include increasing family and community engagement, and using reintegration programs to teach education, job and life skills.

"People in prison are human beings,” he stresses. “They made mistakes, no question, and they're paying for them.

“But our job is to ensure that those human beings go back out and are safe, good Ohioans and doggone it, can smile, too, and the families that love them may have a greater opportunity to smile."

Mohr notes the Ohioans who are behind bars are learning to give back, through such innovative projects as raising fish to feed penguins and bears at the Columbus Zoo, recycling trash from Ohio State football games, and a newly announced plan to construct cabins to be rented at state parks.





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