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The cost of incarceration

Prison gerrymandering

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Ohio has an incarceration rate of 659 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Ohio and why.

71,000 people from Ohio are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Ohio is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 150,000 different people are booked into local jails in Ohio.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Ohio graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Ohio’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

Ohio's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in Ohio

Prisons and jails in Ohio are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in Ohio charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 30¢ for a 15-minute call.
• Ohio suspended its $2 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic for flu related medical visits — it should eliminate them entirely.
• Ohio prisons charge families up to a 18% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• People in Ohio prisons must pay for hygiene items and other basics like legal mail supplies if they have more than $12 in their spending account.
• People in Ohio prisons earn as little as 10¢ an hour for their work.
• New data: Low incomes - but high fees - for people on probation in Ohio
• Ohio charges up to 30¢ for an e-message to or from prison; above the national average.

Prison-based gerrymandering in Ohio

• Ending prison gerrymandering in Ohio resource and campaign page
• Youngstown to avoid prison gerrymandering, mostly
• Ohioans want an end to prison gerrymandering
• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Ohio, by Peter Wagner and Rose Heyer, July 7, 2004

Our other articles about Ohio

• “Housing First” programs, like Returning Home-Ohio, have been shown to reduce the likelihood of future criminal justice system involvement for participants. More places should adopt this type of housing program.
• Ohio's choice to criminalize "failure to appear" may be hurting public safety
• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 13% of people in Ohio prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Ohio makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Ohio prisons are replacing incarcerated people's personal mail with scans, stifling family contact
• Ohio prisons release about 20,275 people every year
• Ohio hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records until they complete probation and parole sentences
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Ohio gets an F-
• Who's helping the 83,369 women released from Ohio correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on Ohio in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Ohio jails and prisons

We gave Ohio a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• Ohio is one of 13 states that did not explicitly mention incarcerated people in their vaccination rollout plan, and is one of 15 prison systems that has not yet vaccinated more than 60% of the incarcerated population.
• Ohio was one of 15 prison systems that did not have a policy making hand sanitizer widely available or providing free hygiene products — like soap — to incarcerated people.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• How many COVID-19 cases in Ohio communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)