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Former Ohio prisons chief top contender to run US prisons

Andrew Welsh-Huggins
/
Associated Press

The former director of the Ohio state prison system has emerged as a leading contender to run the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.

Gary Mohr, who has also worked in the private prison industry, is at the top of the list of candidates to replace Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal, who submitted his resignation in January but said he would stay on until a successor was named, the people said.

A final decision has not been made and it’s unclear when an official announcement would be put forward, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.

Mohr would become the 11th person to lead the Bureau of Prisons since its founding more than 90 years ago, and only the second director with no prior experience at the agency, the Justice Department’s largest.