Ohio prisons aim to limit gang violence

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The state’s prisons chief is trying to limit violence linked to gangs and isolate their leaders by putting troublemakers in new units where they could be restricted to their cells nearly around the clock.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported Sunday that Ohio’s 50,000 inmates have been warned that they could face stiffer punishments if they fight with staff or one another.

“I have directed ... every institution to begin enforcing higher penalties against inmates who are combative with staff and refuse an order to stop fighting [or]assaulting,” Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Gary Mohr wrote to inmates in an Aug. 12 memo.

“I cannot and will not tolerate this behavior.”

Gang ringleaders are sent to newly formed units at other prisons where they are isolated in 8-by-10-foot cells for 23 hours a day. Mohr said he believes isolating vicious prisoners will help quell violence on the yard.