End the Statehouse-to-Prison Pipeline

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The Statehouse-to-Prison Pipeline is the practice of introducing and/or passing bills to create new crimes, enhance existing penalties, and expand current laws that result in more people going to prison or jail.

We just released the latest iteration of our report -- this is our fifth full legislative session overview, spanning the past 10 years (five legislative sessions). Our goal is to demonstrate the sheer volume of bills introduced and passed by the Ohio General Assembly designed to pack even more people into our overcrowd and expensive prisons and jails.

Ohio’s prison system was designed to incarcerate about 37,000 people, yet our prisons housed 45,590 as of December 2024. That’s over 120% capacity.

It’s time to send a clear message to Ohio lawmakers that we cannot incarcerate our way out of every issue. They must stop contributing to this problem with a never-ending pipeline of bills.

Send a message to Ohio lawmakers and urge them to:

1. Stop introducing bills that create new crimes or place additional penalties into state law.

2. Instruct caucuses not to advance legislation already introduced that creates new crimes or criminal penalties.

Ohio Statehouse and person walking in a prison

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Your Message

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Dear Ohio Lawmaker,

I urge you to read the latest report on Ohio’s Statehouse-To-Prison Pipeline and do your part to end it.

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Support criminal legal reform by ending the Statehouse-to-Prison Pipeline.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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End the Statehouse-to-Prison Pipeline

Take Action

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