Mansfield Correctional Facility

MANSFIELD CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION

• The Horticulture Program helps inmates to grow different kinds of plants and foliage for the beautification of the institution and areas in the community of Mansfield. It is also used as a highly intensive therapeutic treatment program for the institution's RTU inmates. Inmates plant and take care of greenery and flowers. The end results are seen throughout the institution in the offices of many employees here. The grounds of the prison are decorated with the results of this highly effective program. This program provides flowers to Kingwood Center (a popular Richland County attraction), as well as the local schools and the Ohio State Patrol Grounds.
• The Tender Loving Dog Care Program, which began in1998, was set up so that dogs, which would have previously euthanized, could be brought into the institution and taught basic skills such as housebreaking and social skills. These dogs are trained by inmate handlers and ultimately are adopted by the public - to include staff and inmate's families. Since the start of the program, inmates have been affected quite positively. The dogs have helped to create a much calmer environment throughout the prison. Presently 23 dogs have been trained and adopted to good, caring homes.

Reading Room
 

In 2000, former First Lady Hope Taft approached the Director about establishing a reading room for the children who visited their incarcerated parent at the Pickaway Correctional Institution. This idea spread across the state, and now the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction maintains children’s reading rooms in each of the 32 institutions. The reading rooms encourage family literacy by providing a pleasant and comfortable setting for both child and incarcerated parent. Each room is stocked with a wide variety of children’s books and has an inmate narrator who reads to the visiting children twice a day. The role of the inmate narrator is to read picture books to the children in much the same manner that children’s hour would be done at a public library. A variety of arts and craft supplies for the children are also available in most of the rooms. Many of the supplies and books are donated by employees and service organizations. This past year the Department served over 45,000 children. The inmate narrators worked over 32,000 hours in reading to and with the children.
 

Visit the Reading Room at Mansfield

• General Population: 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. - Tuesday through Friday; Saturdays by reservation only.
• Honor Status: 8:00 a.m.- 3:00 pm - Saturday and Sunday.
• No holiday visitation.
• Visiting hours are subject to change without notice. Please call the institution to verify visiting hours before planning a visit.

For general visiting information or to download a visitor application, go to http://www.drc.state.oh.us/web/visiting.htm.