LIMA — With one of the oldest professions changing from the labor-intensive task of yesteryear to machine- and technology-driven today, farming has become a thing of the past for inmates looking for a career on the outside once they are released.
Ten prisons in Ohio have farms, including Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution where inmates work and learn a skill once considered valuable on the outside.
But times have changed.
While farming has been part of the state prison system for more than 100 years, very few inmates go to work on farms after they are released from prison, state prison officials said.
State prison leaders made the decision to phase out all farm operations. A definite deadline to have all 10 farms closed has not been set but it’s expected to take place within a year.
“Ohio’s prison farms have become a drain on DRC’s energy and resources, and are not generating the training benefit to justify continuing their operations,” the state prison system announced in a written statement.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction owns 12,500 acres of farmland as well as 2,300 beef cattle and 1,000 dairy cows at eight prisons, including the prison in Lima, said Grant Doepel, a spokesman for the state prison system.
The amount of acreage for farming, the number of cows and the number of inmates working the Lima prison farm was not immediately available Wednesday. Information on the crops grown at the local prison and the use also was not immediately available.
The closing of prison farms was criticized by prison unions officials who have said it could cost some jobs for employees who work with the farms. They also labeled it “political,” aimed at pleasing corporate interests that stand to increase production, according to published reports.
The prison system is focusing on two objectives as part of the phase out of the inmate-operated farms: Keeping prisons safe and providing the best rehabilitative opportunities for inmates, state prison officials said.
“By focusing on programs inside prison walls, Ohio can provide more resources to improve safety and give inmates meaningful, in-demand job training that will reduce crime in Ohio by providing a foundation for an individual’s successful re-entry back into society,” according to the statement.
Inmates need education and job training to enhance their chances of making it on the outside including opportunities that prevent them from returning to their old criminal ways. Only 0.004 percent of inmates participate in job training at a prison farm and few, if any, pursue careers in farming, officials said.
To help meet the needs and evolve with the demands in the business world outside the fences, the state prison system is putting inmates into jobs that teach a skillset and can help them find a job on the outside. Those working the farmland will be reassigned to other programs and job training opportunities, officials said.
There is training available in the construction trades or other professions such as a meat cutter, prison officials said.
Once the farms are shut down, more correctional officers, as well as other resources, will be redirected inside the prisons. The initiative not only will help improve safety measures for staff but for inmates, as well. One area officials want to beef up is restrictive housing where security risks are higher, officials said.
There’s also other advantages such taking measures to eliminate the passing of illegal contraband into the prisons. The farm at the local prison is outside the gates where inmates who have a lower risk level work.
Eventually, the land used for farming could be sold, which will help local school districts and government when the land enters the local tax base. The state also will raise some revenue through land sales, officials said.
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