Ohio's prison population is rising, threatening to set a new record as soon as July, despite repeated efforts to divert inmates from state lockups. The number of inmates in Ohio prisons increased 15.1 percent from 2005 to 2016, according to a report released today by the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, a legislative prison watchdog agency. At the same time, prison overcrowding hit 132.1 percent, up from 114.8.

Ohio's prison population is rising, threatening to set a new record as soon as July, despite repeated efforts to divert inmates from state lockups.

The number of inmates in Ohio prisons increased 15.1 percent from 2005 to 2016, according to a report released today by the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, a legislative prison watchdog agency. At the same time, prison overcrowding hit 132.1 percent, up from 114.8.

This is happening at a time when the overall crime rate in Ohio has gone down roughly 15 percent.

Gary Mohr, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, sounded the alarm at statewide opiates conference earlier this week.

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"I think it�s a pretty safe bet that by July 1 of this year we will set an all-time historic record of incarcerated Ohioans.�

The population stood at 50,899 on May 2; the all-time record is 51,273, set in Nov. 2008.

�The day I started in this business, there were 291 women Ohio women locked up in the prison system in Ohio." Mohr said. "Today we�re at 4,300.�

Mohr said criminal case filings statewide were a good predictor in the past of how many people would be coming to prison. But that isn't working anymore, he said. While the number of criminal filings dropped by 5.2 percent last year, the number of new inmates continues rising.

"Some of these numbers are not making sense," Mohr said.

Mohr has said repeatedly he will not build another prison during his time as prisons director, which could end when Gov. John Kasich leaves office at the end of 2018.

State officials have been vigorously trying for a decade to reduce the prison population, largely by diverting non-violent inmates to community-based correction and substance abuse treatment programs.

But the CIIC report points out those efforts have been undercut by new "tough on crime" laws, many of them dealing with sex offenders, passed by the General Assembly, as well as a 2006 Ohio Supreme Court ruling that relaxed requirements for judges to state specific reasons for meting out maximum sentences. As a result, the number of inmates sentenced to the maximum term increased dramatically, requiring an extra 6,700 prison beds.

Drug offenses make up 27 percent of all crimes, the largest single category, followed by crimes against person (24.7 percent), property offenses (12.6 percent), burglary (11.2 percent), and sex offenses (7.5 percent).

While men still far outnumber women behind bars, women are coming to prison at a much faster rate, mostly for non-violent drug and property crimes, the report showed.

The majority of incoming inmates have been white for the past 11 years.

Dispatch reporter Catherine Candisky contributed to this story.

ajohnson@dispatch.com

@ohioaj