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By Anders Hagstrom
Ohio is looking to overhaul its criminal code for the first time since 1974, and the changes would release more than 3,000 inmates over the next year, according to Monday reports.
Ohio’s Criminal Justice Re-codification committee deliberated on the changes for two years. The resulting criminal code, Title 29, would place a cap on state prison populations at 47,000. The state currently houses more than 50,000 inmates, the Columbus Dispatch reported Monday. The law allows the state’s parole boards to release 500 “low-level offenders” per month until the population is in compliance.
The committee changes also institute additional penalties for bad behavior in prison, expand drug treatment programs as an alternative to prison, reduce added penalties for committing a crime while in possession of a firearm, and raise the felony theft threshold to $2,500.