New Ohio Prison Director's Conflict of Interest

Once again we see an unholy cross-over between private and public sector employment. Is anyone really supposed to believe that a former CCA employee will not be advocating for more privatization of Ohio's prisons or think for one second that contracts will be awarded fairly?

What a complete and utter joke this is. Hope Ohioans are ready to spend even more on their prison budget. Not once has it ever been proven private facilities that operate for profit save the state any money whatsoever. In fact, it kind of defies logic to think that hiring a 3rd part middleman saves money in any industry, doesn't it?

Columbus Dispatch

Gov.-elect John Kasich, who has said he wants to explore privatizing state prison operations, has chosen a former longtime state prisons official who later worked at a company that operates private prisons to run the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.


Kasich introduced Gary C. Mohr during a press conference this afternoon at the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe, Mohr's hometown. He is the 11th cabinet nomination so far before Kasich takes office on Monday.

Kasich and Mohr pledged that all state decisions involving privatization would publicly bid and transparent and that Mohr would abstain from any decision involving his former employer, Corrections Corporation of America, a private operator.

From 2007-09, Mohr was a managing director for Nashville-based CCA which owns and operates a private prison in Youngstown that houses federal inmates. The company runs 60 prison facilities housing 75,000 inmates in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

Mohr currently is chief executive of the consulting company, Mohr Correctional Insight, which has mostly worked with CCA, including instituting a new management system for prison staffing. He has been in that position since 2009 after earlier serving from 2005-07.
Kasich has targeted the state prison system as a way to save money with Ohio facing a potential shortfall of $8 billion or more in the next two-year budget that Kasich must introduce by March 15.

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