Ohio Reformatory for Women

OHIO REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN

• The Therapeutic Community (TC) are long-term (6-12 months) residential Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) treatment programs. The TC approach views AOD abuse as a reflection of chronic deficits in social, vocational, familial, economic, and personality development. The aim of the Therapeutic Community is to promote pro-social behavior, attitudes, and values as a method to attain abstinence from alcohol and other drugs and eliminate antisocial behaviors. The TC’s at ORW and Pickaway are collaborative efforts between the Ohio DR&C and the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.
• Mom and Kids Day:  During the month of December and for Mother's Day, incarcerated mothers, children, and other family members are permitted to spend the entire day together to celebrate the holiday.  A variety of games, conversation, food and entertainment provide the families with an atmosphere of love, closeness, and sharing.  This special visitation program promotes family reunification.
• Camp Adventure:  This one day "Day Camp" offers inmates and their children ages 4 to 11 an entire day to spend together learning about Ohio Wildlife and natural resources through animal interaction and classroom projects.  Other activities include various arts and crafts projects pictures with mom.
• Achieving Baby Care Success: Child development experts have determined that infants must bond with their mother in the first few months of life or their emotional and intellectual functioning is impaired. In June 2001, ORW opened Ohio's only nursery program within an institution. The Achieving Baby Care Success (ABC'S) Program allows incarcerated pregnant inmates to maintain custody of their infants after they are born. Each participant has an individualized treatment plan so that the problems that resulted in her incarceration are thoroughly addressed. Hands-on parenting instruction is available for every mother in the program. Eligible mothers for the program are screened and must be serving a short-term sentence for a non-violent crime. The criteria for the program ensures that the mothers and infants leave the institution together. There are currently 14 babies in the nursery.

• Sign/poster making for various activities
• Quilts for Columbus Urban League
• Trash pickup for Ohio Department of Transportation
• General maintenance for Windsor Manor, American Legion Hall, Village of Mechanicsburg

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 ORW

• 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Last check-in time at 1:30 p.m.)
• Seven days per week for general population inmates
• Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday visitation for reception inmates
• All visits are by reservation only.
• Toll Free Visiting Registration Number: 1-866-286-0033.  Line is open to calls between the following hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
• Visiting hours are subject to change. 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.