Blackwell bringing jobs to Lima could cost Toledo jobs

Thursday's Columbus Dispatch reported as linked in the title:

Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell is calling for the reopening of the Lima Correctional Institution, which was closed two years ago in a budget-cutting move.

The Taft administration still thinks the state can't afford the estimated cost of $70 million to $90 million to reopen and operate the facility, but Blackwell is confident he can find the money in the state budget, spokesman Carlo LoParo said.

“It's necessary for the economic vitality of Lima and Allen County and to house our prison population,” LoParo said.

Interestingly enough, back on August 9th, the Toledo Blade reported:

LIMA, Ohio — City Council voted 8-0 Monday night to send a resolution to the state asking the new director, Terry Collins, to restart basic utility services to the closed prison to “reduce any damages that would result from the lack of such heat and maintenance,” to have the overall facility reviewed to determine the cost of reopening it, and to reopen LCI to help alleviate Ohio’s crowded prisons.

And...you won't read this as a part of the Dispatch article but Toledo's WUPW adds:

Democratic candidate Ted Strickland says he was opposed to the decision to close the prison.

The Akron Beacon Journal wrote this in June:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's prison population increased 6 percent in the past year, adding to concerns among some public officials about overcrowded conditions and tensions between inmates and guards.

In June, there were 46,356 inmates in 32 prisons that were built to house 35,730, according to state records. The Lorain Correctional Institution in northeast Ohio was the most overcrowded prison with 1,983 inmates. It was designed to hold 756.

However the State is not at it's highest number:

The Ohio prisons system reached its highest point in 1998, when it had more than 49,000 inmates.

The Toledo angle:

To alleviate crowding, Collins said he is looking to add nearly 1,300 more beds in six prisons - Pickaway, Ross, Warren, Toledo, Mansfield and Marion - by opening cellblocks that were closed several years ago or were built but never used.

I wasn't aware we had cellblocks in Toledo that were closed or that were built but never used, I was able to determine from this pdf that Toledo Correctional Institute has a capacity of 1,000 prisoners and an additional 186 at the minimum security camp that is on the same grounds. It's stated there are currently 807 prisoners as of last week at TCI. Which means it doesn't appear this facility is over-croweded. Nor was it at the time of the pdf report that was done in 2005, there were 801 prisoners there at that time. In October of 2005 it was stated there were 44,783 prisoners thru out Ohio's prison facilities. In further reading of the 2005 pdf it states C block which can hold 288 prisoners is empty.

That means in October of 2005 the Ohio Prison system using the maximum number of 35,730 was 9,053 over and in June of 2006 was 10,626 over. Lorian is listed above as being Ohio's most over crowded prison with 1,983 inmates. In 2005 it had 1,768. Which makes one wonder why Toledo has been under utilized when compared to Lorain.

If C block at Toledo Correctional Institute is opened it will create more jobs at that facility. Lorain is closer to Toledo than Lima so transportation costs would be less. Opening C block will not relieve all of the overcrowding issues that has been faced by the Ohio Prison system for many years prior but it would be a start, I'd like to see research on which would be more cost effective - opening the blocks that are currently not use in prisons that are currently open or re-opening Lima Correctional Institute.