More women than ever are going to prison in Ohio, with most serving short sentences for nonviolent drug crimes and struggling with mental-health and addiction issues. A provision tucked into the state budget could change that, however.

More women than ever are going to prison in Ohio, with most serving short sentences for nonviolent drug crimes and struggling with mental-health and addiction issues.

A provision tucked into the state budget could change that, however. It empowers Ohio Prisons Director Gary C. Mohr to move nonviolent, low-level felony drug offenders out of prisons and into community programs or electronically monitored house arrest if they have less than a year remaining of their sentence. The change applies to both genders, with 2,100 inmates likely to be eligible this year.

While men still far outnumber women in Ohio prisons � 46,394 to 4,258, as of Monday � women will get first priority for the new program.

It marks the first time the prisons director, and not a judge, has been authorized by legislators to shorten prison sentences. Qualifying inmates first must go through a demanding preparation program of eight to 10 hours a day for two weeks.

�This is going to be a very structured, very rigorous, very rigid approach to transitioning people back to the community,� Mohr said. �This is like going to boot camp.�

A look back reveals how dramatically the gender mix has changed in prison.

In 1974, 284 women and 4,842 men entered Ohio prisons. By 2014, 2,818 women and 17,302 men arrived � less than a four-fold increase for men but a 10-fold increase for women.

For decades, the state had one women�s prison, the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, which didn�t have a perimeter fence until the mid-1980s.

Now, there are three secure prisons for women: the Ohio Reformatory for Women, Dayton Correctional Institution and Northeast Reintegration Center in Cleveland.

So what�s happening? Are more women turning to crime?

Look no further than illegal drugs for the answer, Mohr said.

�Drug possession is the No. 1 sentence for women coming to prison,� he said.

The top five sentences are all directly or indirectly related to drugs: drug possession (16.3 percent), theft (12.7 percent), drug trafficking (9.7 percent), burglary (8.8 percent), and illegal manufacturing of drugs (8 percent). For men, drug offenses are lower percentages and felonious assault charges are in the top five.

Mohr said female prisoners, on average, cost taxpayers more to incarcerate because of staffing patterns and increased health and mental-health services. There also are issues with pregnant inmates and mothers with children.

The daily cost per inmate is higher at two of the three female prisons than the state average of $62.57.

�I have a tough time in a visiting room at women�s prisons,� Mohr said. �It tears your heart out to see inmates with little boys and girls who don�t know why their mom isn�t leaving with them.�& amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; amp; lt; /p>

David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center in Cincinnati, said the state is �using prisons to solve public-health problems. You have more women who are reporting substance abuse at the time of their offense and who have mental-health issues and commit offenses that drive them into the prison system.�

Women entering prison also are frequently victims of sexual violence, he said.

�We�re not doing what we need to do in the community to treat them at vastly lower cost than incarceration,� he added.

�We need a change in our culture. We�ve got to move away from the lock �em up as a first option, for women and men. If we can keep people out of prisons, and keep the public safe, we ought to be doing it.�

The Sentencing Project, a national prisoner-advocacy group, confirmed female prison intake is increasing nearly double the rate for men, affecting inmates and their families.

�Large-scale women�s imprisonment has resulted in an increasing number of children who suffer from their mother�s incarceration and the loss of family ties.�

Cynthia Mauser, managing director of courts and community programs for the state, said the budget provision for early release covers the �treatment transfer program.� It is funded by $58 million included in the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction budget over two years to expand community programs, such as halfway houses, treatment and house arrest.

She said prisons have started screening female inmates who could qualify for the program, expected to start in March. Men will be screened later this year.

Mohr said his feet should be held to the fire if Ohio�s prison population isn�t reduced by the end of the year, defying the trend of the past two decades.

�If it isn�t, they need somebody else in this job,� he said. �I believe I should have to be held accountable.�

ajohnson@dispatch.com

@ohioaj