A national report projects a 20-percent increase in Ohio's prison population over the next five years, and the state's corrections director says that drug use is to blame, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Feb. 15.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Ohio corrections director Terry Collins of the projection from the Pew Charitable Trusts. "We seem to be seeing more people doing drug abuse and drug possession and crimes to try to get drugs ... where it is not violence against a particular person but violence against society."

The report, "Public Safety and Public Spending," estimated that Ohio would have 57,000 prison inmates by 2011 -- the most in the Midwest.

The Pew report also provided prison-population projections for the 50 other U.S. states in the report, saying that most were likely to see double-digit growth in their prison population. Researchers expect that an additional 192,000 people will be imprisoned over the next five years, costing states in excess of $27 billion.

Pew's Susan Urahn said that states "are beginning to question whether huge additional investments in prisons are the most effective and economical way of combating crime ... The challenge for state policy makers is to ensure that taxpayers are getting a strong return on their investments in corrections." One suggestion from the report: improving reentry programs to cut recidivism rates.