Ohio to charge inmates for electricity

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio inmates paying their debt to society also will pay $1 per month for electricity and give up flavored drinks, under a state prisons budget plan.

Those changes planned for July are among $30 million in money-saving ideas given to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction by its own employees.

Department spokesman Carlo LoParo says limiting the beverages offered with inmate lunches and dinners will save $2 million over two years. Another $3 million would be saved with less variety in meals but more of the most popular and least expensive foods.

He says the prisons will trim expenses by about $250,000 a year by having inmates pay $1 a month to power their personal TVs and radios.