State lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation to allow the sale and privatization of a second Ohio prison.
House Bill 238, which cleared a final House vote, would put the North Central Correctional Institution in Marion on the auction block. Gov. John Kasich intends to sign the legislation, according to gubernatorial spokesman Rob Nichols.
The money from the sale will be spent on initiatives to develop alternatives to prison for convicts, according to state prisons agency spokeswoman JoEllen Smith.
North Central, a minimum-security prison opened in 1994, has been operated by a private company, Management and Training Corporation, since 2011. As of June 2014, the facility housed 2,718 inmates – 120 percent of capacity. The prison would be the second sold by the state in five years. The Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut was sold in 2011.
There would be at least one benefit to the sale locally. Once privately owned, the facility would start generating property tax revenue for Marion County.
State Rep. Barbara Sears, the Toledo-area Republican co-sponsoring the bill, said authorization for the prison sale was sought by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.
“I think that it makes sense that if the state no longer needs to own property that we don’t own it,” Sears said.
But liberal critics said Ohio shouldn’t repeat its decision to sell the Lake Erie facility, claiming privatization at that prison has led to overcrowding and more inmate violence.
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