COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich crossed off another cabinet position from his to-do list Monday, when he named Gary Mohr as Director of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC).
Making the announcement from Mohr's hometown of Chillicothe in Ross County, Kasich, now less than a week away from being sworn in as Ohio's 69th governor, named a seasoned corrections official with more than 36 years of experience and leadership in both the public and private corrections systems to head a key state agency that took in 24,023 offenders (20,830 males; 3,193 females) in Fiscal Year 2010 and incarcerates about 50,000 inmates and whose budget is about $1.7 billion, representing about seven percent of state spending.
Outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland added $100 million to the budget for prisons, but cautioned that unless the state changed its sentencing laws and added money for halfway houses to help slow inmate growth, the state might have to close a prison in 2011.
Mohr, who previously served twice as a Deputy Director for the ODR&C under two different administrations, brings "a deep institutional understanding of the Department," according to a media release from Kasich communication staff.
Mohr should know the ropes, having served as Warden in Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Ross Correctional Institution, and the Corrections Reception Center. Adding to his credentials, Mohr served as the Superintendent of the Ohio Department of Youth Services and as Director of the Ohio Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice, where he chaired the task force on gun violence; he chaired the investigation into the Lucasville riot of 1993 and wrote the report on it. He also initiated funding for several day reporting centers as alternative sentencing options.
Prior to his appointment by Kasich today, Mohr was the managing director at Corrections Corporation of America, a Tennessee company that designs, builds, manages and operates federal, state and local correctional facilities across the country, until he formed his own. He then provided consulting services to CCA through his own business, Mohr Correctional Insight.
Click 'Subscribe' above to have the next CGE column delivered via email to you. Read more stories on people, politics and government in Ohio here, or on Facebook or Twitter. Send news or tips to ohionewsbureau@gmail.com
Comments