The group that keeps tabs on Ohio’s prisons for state lawmakers says there are fewer young people behind bars. The Correction Institution Inspection Committee said the number of teenagers sent to Ohio’s adult prisons took a huge dip to its lowest numbers in 15 years.
The group’s executive director, Joanna Saul, says this represents an important institutional shift.
“Anytime you have juveniles placed into the adult prison system you’re basically throwing away the key in my opinion,” Saul says. “You are building up for them an education in how to be a criminal.”
Saul says the low numbers are due in part to more awareness about the dangers of putting youths in adult prisons and a better understanding among judges.
Saul says some issues Ohio’s correctional facilities are facing in the future include a dip in inmates earning GEDs, and increasing prison populations.
