Ohio’s overcrowded prisons are getting a needed makeover, building on previous gains and focusing on turning inmates into productive citizens.

Gary Mohr, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, unveiled a plan recently to reorganize state prisons into a tiered system based on levels of control.

Disruptive, violent inmates would be separated from the rest of the prison population. That will make other inmates safer and allow officials to focus on rehabilitating inmates in the general population and reintegration groups. …

Inmates at reintegration facilities will get job training, with a goal of having jobs waiting for them when they get out. Mr. Mohr said he wants them to work eight-hour days before their release. Research shows that inmates who get job training are less likely to go back to prison.

The changes in prison organization follow sentencing reforms that took effect last fall. Those reforms allow many nonviolent and first-time offenders to be diverted to community programs. …

Ohio’s prison director said he is no liberal when it comes to the treatment of inmates.

But after four decades in the business, he believes the best way to cut crime, reduce recidivism, and save money is to give inmates hope and the tools to build a better life. He’s right.

The (Toledo) Blade