Inmate Rights in Ohio

Ohio's prison rights landscape is defined by two laws that stand out in this series. First, the Reagan Tokes Law requires judges to give minimum and maximum prison terms for first and second degree felonies, then grants unelected ODRC administrators the power to add time up to the maximum without notifying the sentencing judge. More than 14,500 people, nearly one third of Ohio's prison population, have been sentenced under this law. Second, Senate Bill 288, signed into law on January 3, 2023, nearly doubled the amount of time a person can earn off their sentence through participation in programs, increasing the earned credit cap from 8 to 15 percent.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, known as ODRC, is responsible for oversight of Ohio's adult prison system. As of December 2025, ODRC housed 45,833 inmates across its network of facilities with a fiscal year 2026 budget of $2.545 billion and approximately 11,627 employees. Interim Director Edward H. Banks III leads the department with the motto 'Reduce recidivism among those we touch.' Ohio's three year recidivism rate was 17.9 percent as of 2025, down from a peak of 30.4 percent in 2009.

This guide covers rights inside Ohio state prisons and county jails across ten domains, grounded in ODRC policy, Ohio statute, and the current legal landscape.

Here is the short version, before we take each right apart.

Medical and mental health care are constitutionally required. Effective April 4, 2021, each incarcerated person at ODRC receives three free phone calls of up to 15 minutes per week through GTL ConnectNetwork; video visits are available at ohdoc.gtlvisitme.com. Mail follows ODRC policy; tablets provide access to music, movies, audiobooks, newsfeed, and religious library content. Visitation requires prior approval through ODRC's facility specific processes. Grievances must be filed and exhausted before federal court. Disciplinary hearings carry due process protections; the Reagan Tokes Law allows ODRC administrators to add sentence time for first and second degree felons based on disciplinary and programming factors. Senate Bill 288 (signed January 3, 2023) increased earned credit from 1 to 5 days per month and raised the cap from 8 to 15 percent. Solitary confinement in Ohio goes by multiple names. ODRC published PREA data for 2024 showing substantiated staff on inmate sexual misconduct. Religious practice is protected. ADA accommodations are required. Voting rights are automatically restored upon release from prison.

Medical and mental health care

Every person in an Ohio state prison has a constitutional right to adequate medical and mental health care under the Eighth Amendment. ODRC is responsible for delivering health care services across its network. As of 2025, 16,104 inmates were enrolled in a Substance Use Disorder Treatment program; 67 percent completed the program. This reflects ODRC's significant investment in behavioral health treatment. Additionally, 25.4 percent of all inmates admitted to ODRC without a high school degree obtain a GED or diploma before release.

ODRC has taken steps to remove people with serious mental illness from the highest levels of solitary confinement following ACLU of Ohio and Disability Rights Ohio advocacy. If your loved one is not receiving needed medical or mental health care, submit every request in writing with a date, keep copies, and file a formal grievance through ODRC. Contact the ACLU of Ohio or Disability Rights Ohio for systemic medical care concerns.

Phone calls: three free calls per week

Effective April 4, 2021, ODRC provides each incarcerated person three free phone calls of up to 15 minutes per week through the GTL ConnectNetwork platform. This is a meaningful benefit for family connection that puts Ohio ahead of states where all calls must be paid. Additional calls beyond the three free weekly calls are available through ConnectNetwork's AdvancePay or PIN Debit options, subject to the FCC's prison telephone rate caps expanded in 2024. Calls are monitored and recorded except for calls to attorneys.

Video visits are available through GTL's VisitMe platform at ohdoc.gtlvisitme.com or through GTL's VisMobile app for Android devices (not available for iOS). Scheduling video visits in advance is recommended. Tablets are available to ODRC inmates and provide access to multimedia services including music, movies, audiobooks, newsfeed, and religious library content, funded through PIN Debit accounts. InmateAid can help families navigate ConnectNetwork accounts and the current platform for the specific ODRC facility.

Mail and tablets

Mail in Ohio state prisons is governed by ODRC policy. Legal mail, meaning correspondence with courts and licensed attorneys, must be opened only in the incarcerated person's presence to check for physical contraband and cannot be read. This constitutional baseline applies across all ODRC facilities.

Tablets are available to ODRC inmates and provide access to music, movies, audiobooks, news content, and a religious library. Additional content and services as determined by ODRC may also be available. Family and friends can fund tablet services through the incarcerated person's PIN Debit account through ConnectNetwork. InmateAid can help families confirm current mail procedures and tablet funding processes for the specific ODRC facility.

Visitation

ODRC facilities allow in person and video visitation between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones in accordance with ODRC's visitation policy. In person visitation requires prior approval. The incarcerated person typically submits a list of proposed visitors; each adult completes a visitor application for a background check. Approval timelines range from a few days to several weeks. Visiting schedules vary by facility. Visitors must bring a valid, unexpired government issued photo ID. Dress codes are enforced: no revealing attire, no clothing resembling inmate or staff uniforms, no hats; many facilities prohibit underwire bras. Phones, bags, electronics, keys, and wallets must be left in the vehicle or facility lockers.

A visit can be denied for reasons unrelated to the visitor's paperwork: the incarcerated person may be in disciplinary status, restricted housing, medical isolation, or holdover during a transfer. If a visit is denied or a visitor is removed from an approved list, file a grievance through the ODRC process. County jails operate under their own local authority with separate visiting procedures. Contact InmateAid for current facility specific visiting information at 614 752 1159 or through InmateAid.

The grievance process

ODRC maintains an internal grievance process for incarcerated people. Grievances must be filed and exhausted through the internal ODRC process before a federal civil rights lawsuit can be filed under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. ODRC's central office is at 770 West Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43222, general information at 614 752 1159.

File every grievance in writing, keep a copy, and document every response and every failure to respond within required timeframes. Contact the ACLU of Ohio or the Ohio Justice and Policy Center for systemic concerns after the internal process is complete.

Disciplinary hearings and the Reagan Tokes Law

When a person in Ohio state custody is accused of a disciplinary infraction, they are entitled to the minimum due process protections from Wolff v. McDonnell: advance written notice of the charge, a hearing, and a written statement of the evidence and reasons for any sanction. ODRC policy governs the disciplinary process.

For people sentenced as first or second degree felons under the Reagan Tokes Law, disciplinary outcomes carry an additional consequence not found in most states: ODRC administrators, who are unelected, can add time up to the maximum sentence without being required to notify the sentencing judge. More than 14,500 people, approximately one third of Ohio's prison population, are sentenced under this law. A 2025 Marshall Project investigation found no one in Ohio had been released early under the associated earned credit reform law despite years of enactment, and documented cases of people receiving extra time based on proceedings that critics describe as lacking adequate procedural safeguards. Document what happened at any disciplinary hearing, who was present, and what evidence was considered. If the result appears to violate procedural requirements, file a grievance and appeal through ODRC.

Senate Bill 288 and earned credit

Senate Bill 288, the criminal justice omnibus bill, was signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine on January 3, 2023. The law made significant changes to Ohio's earned credit program. It nearly doubled the cap on time a person can earn off their prison sentence, increasing it from 8 percent to 15 percent. It also increased the monthly credit available from one day to five days per month of participation for most convictions. The law also authorizes the ODRC Director to develop new constructive programs for earned credit.

The ACLU of Ohio has noted that while SB 288 represents meaningful progress, access to earned credit in Ohio has been limited in practice and varies widely across facilities. People who participate actively in programming and meet behavioral standards may be able to reduce their sentence through earned credit. If your loved one believes they are eligible for earned credit or that credit is being improperly denied, this should be raised through the ODRC grievance process and with an attorney familiar with Ohio corrections law.

Solitary confinement

Solitary confinement in Ohio goes by multiple names: restrictive housing, local control, disciplinary control, protective custody, and administrative segregation. The ACLU of Ohio defines solitary confinement as extreme isolation in a cell for 21 or more hours a day. ODRC has used solitary confinement as a first resort for minor rule violations including making too much noise, talking back to a corrections officer, testing positive for drugs, possessing too many items, awaiting transfer to a different facility, or even as housing for people who have attempted suicide.

Following advocacy by the ACLU of Ohio and Disability Rights Ohio, ODRC has taken steps to remove individuals with serious mental illnesses from solitary confinement and has depopulated the most extreme security levels. Ohio has not yet enacted comprehensive legislation limiting solitary confinement. If your loved one is in solitary confinement in an Ohio state prison, document the placement date, reason, conditions, daily out of cell time, and mental health services provided. File a grievance through ODRC and contact Disability Rights Ohio or the ACLU of Ohio for systemic concerns.

PREA and protection from sexual abuse

The Prison Rape Elimination Act applies in all ODRC facilities and in Ohio county jails. ODRC published PREA data for 2024 in a 2025 report showing the scale of the issue: 184 inmate on inmate nonconsensual sexual acts allegations with 11 substantiated; 138 inmate on inmate abusive sexual contact allegations with 13 substantiated; 58 staff on inmate sexual misconduct allegations with 11 substantiated; and 16 staff on inmate sexual harassment allegations with 2 substantiated. About 1 percent of the 45,281 inmates at the time of reporting had filed a PREA allegation.

Every person in custody has the right to be free from sexual abuse and sexual harassment by staff and by other incarcerated people. Reports can be made to facility staff, the PREA coordinator, or through external reporting options. Retaliation against someone who reports is a PREA violation and the basis of a separate complaint. Document every incident, every report made, and any change in housing or treatment that follows a report.

Religious practice

People incarcerated in Ohio state prisons have the right to religious practice under the First Amendment and the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. ODRC must accommodate sincere religious beliefs and practices unless it can demonstrate a compelling security interest that cannot be addressed through less restrictive means. ODRC tablets provide access to a religious library as part of the available content.

Requests for specific religious accommodations, including dietary adjustments and access to religious items, go through a formal request process at the facility. A denial must rest on a genuine documented security concern. Denials can be challenged through the ODRC grievance process and, if unresolved, in federal court under RLUIPA. Document the specific accommodation requested, the reason given for any denial, and every step taken.

ADA and disability accommodations

People with disabilities in Ohio state prisons are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. ODRC must provide reasonable accommodations for people with mobility, vision, hearing, cognitive, and other disabilities. Disability Rights Ohio, which co authored the 2016 ACLU of Ohio solitary confinement report, is a resource for systemic disability access concerns in Ohio state prisons. Requests for disability accommodations should be submitted in writing to the facility.

A denial or failure to respond can be challenged through the ODRC grievance process and, if unresolved, in federal court. Document every accommodation requested and every response received.

Voting rights: restored upon release from prison

Ohio's felony voting rights law is relatively favorable by national standards. Voting rights for people with felony convictions are automatically restored upon release from prison. People on parole or probation in Ohio may vote. Ohio is consistently listed among the states where voting rights are restored upon release from incarceration, regardless of parole or probation status.

People who have been released from an Ohio state prison and need to register to vote should contact the county Board of Elections where they now reside. Re registration is required after release. People currently serving a sentence inside an Ohio state prison or county jail for a felony conviction do not have the right to vote during that incarceration. People in county jails awaiting trial who have not been convicted of a felony retain their right to vote.

The bottom line for Ohio

Ohio's prison rights landscape is defined by the Reagan Tokes Law's grant of sentence extension power to unelected ODRC administrators for first and second degree felons, the Senate Bill 288 earned credit expansion, three free 15 minute calls per week, and substantiated PREA data showing the scope of sexual misconduct in ODRC facilities. Voting rights are automatically restored upon release from prison including while on parole.

The rights in this guide are real: adequate medical care under the Eighth Amendment with Substance Use Disorder Treatment programs, three free 15 minute calls per week through GTL ConnectNetwork, video visits through GTL VisitMe, tablet access to multimedia and religious content, legal mail protection at the facility, visitation through ODRC's facility specific processes, an ODRC grievance process that must be exhausted before federal court, due process in disciplinary hearings with Reagan Tokes Law sentence implications for first and second degree felons, Senate Bill 288 earned credit of up to 5 days per month to 15 percent of sentence, advocacy driven reductions in solitary confinement for people with serious mental illness, PREA protections with published 2024 data, religious accommodation including tablet based religious library, disability access, and voting rights restored automatically upon release from prison including while on parole. Document everything, file every grievance, contact the ACLU of Ohio and Disability Rights Ohio for systemic concerns, and stay in contact through InmateAid.