Warren prison to see more inmates

COLUMBUS (AP) -- To cope with a rapid rise in prison population, Ohio has begun transferring inmates from around the state to a prison that has extra room.
Inmates from prisons in Warren, Toledo and Marion who requested protection from other prisoners have been moved to a special unit at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, about 80 miles south of Columbus, prisons director Terry Collins said Wednesday.
Ohio's prison population increased 7 percent in the past 17 months, adding to concerns about tensions between inmates and guards. Early this month, there were 46,807 inmates at the state's 32 prisons, Collins said; the population peaked in 1998 at 49,100.
The state began shifting some inmates to Lucasville last week as part of a plan to free up 1,454 additional beds statewide, Collins said. He did not know how many inmates were part of the transfer.
The heart of the plan calls for making additional beds available at six prisons -- Toledo, Mansfield, Marion, Pickaway, Ross and Warren -- by opening cellblocks that were closed several years ago or were built but never used.
The process could take several months, and the cost of reopening the units hasn't been determined, Collins said.
The state is still evaluating the cellblocks to see if plumbing and electrical work is needed.