Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is the administrative department for the state of Ohio responsible for oversight of its adult prison system, along with its inmate population. It was established in 1972 under House Bill 494 of the 109th General Assembly of the Ohio House of Representatives. The responsibilities of ODRC are established in Section 5120 of the Ohio Revised Code and only hosts inmates with felonies and have a sentence of six months or more. Ohio's prison system is the sixth-largest in America, with 27 adult prisons and three facilities for juveniles. Inmates are classified with a security level of 1 through 4, including a special classification level of "E", with level 1 being the lowest and least restrictive, while level "E" is the highest, with the most restrictive security control measures in place. There is also a security level between E and Level 4 where an inmate is classified as ET as a transitional program to downgrade their security level. In December 2025, the number of inmates in Ohio totaled 45,833, with a total budget for Fiscal Year 2026 of $2,545,285,316. ODRC headquarters are located in Columbus.