COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ Ohio's prisons chief is calling for more compassion toward wrongdoers as he continues a push to reduce the state's inmate population.
Corrections director Gary Mohr says that too often an “us vs. them'' mentality gets in the way of instituting programs to prevent people from going to prison and to keep former inmates from returning.
Mohr said Thursday he's dissatisfied that one in four state employees now work in adult corrections and that the inmate population is holding steady at about 50,000.
Mohr also sees signs of optimism as commitments from the state's biggest counties drop thanks to the growth of community alternatives in urban areas.
Mohr made his remarks in comments to the bipartisan Correctional Institution Inspection Committee.
