News & Commentary

For full details on how and when you can apply for a marriage license in Ohio, please contact or check the website of the probate court in the county where you intend to be married.

Shortsighted policy decisions to cut spending often cost the state more than it saves. That’s one of the lessons history teaches us, particularly when it comes to prisons for profit. In September 2011, Ohio completed the sale of Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut to the Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest for-profit prison company. It was the first and still is the only state-owned prison in the United States sold to a private business. In a letter to other state governors, CCA called the acquisition of the prison “groundbreaking.” However, three years later, the sale of LaECI offers a model of everything that’s wrong with prison privatization: an increase in violence; high rates of staff turnover; and security problems for the local community. In 2013, Ohio officials fined CCA nearly $500,000 for numerous violations. Déjà Vu All Over Again One would think the state should have learned its lesson in privatizing its prisons; however, we find ourselves amidst this debate once more. House Bill 239 authorizes the sale of North Central Correctional Institution in Marion. Once again, Ohio is pursuing a quick fix to save some resources rather than taking into account the short- and long-term consequences of prison privatization. Even though it already has three years of evidence from LaECI. Profit, Not Rehabilitation The purpose of our prisons is to rehabilitate and reform people before they rejoin society. It becomes difficult to accomplish this when a prison is sold to a for-profit company. The private prison industry promises savings and public revenue to taxpayers, but these are false promises. The bottom line of any private prison company is to make money for its shareholders. LaECI provides sufficient evidence that a private business has no obligation toward taxpayers, the community where a prison is located, and prisoners or their families:

Photograph courtesy of Rachel Woods

Photo by Raymond Wambsgans through Flickr Creative Commons.