Latest news with #OhioJusticeandPolicyCenter
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Pilot program testing tasers in Ohio's prisons; may expand statewide
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Ohio's correction officers could soon be armed with tasers. 'This is very rushed,' policy director at Ohio Justice and Policy Center Michaela Burriss said. 'De-escalation is about communication; de-escalation is about creating safe spaces.' Stranger's sleuthing reunites Grandview Heights graduate with class ring lost 50 years ago According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC), the conversation of arming corrections officers with tasers started in 2020. Research into the matter was put on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, then started again in 2024. In May of this year, two prisons started a pilot program to test the use of tasers; now ODRC wants to see the program expanded statewide. 'Over 78% of those currently housed in the department have committed a crime of violence in their lifetime,' an ODRC spokesperson wrote in a statement. 'This means that the inmates the staff supervise are more dangerous than they have been in the past, and we want our staff to have the tools to do their jobs safely.' 'There absolutely shouldn't be a statewide expansion when we have no idea how the pilot is going to turn out,' Burriss said. How would the proposal work? This manual lays out what all must go into equipping correction officers with tasers. Officers must go through vendor approved training, and if a taser is in use, body cameras must also be in use. Unauthorized use includes someone who is already restrained and inmates younger than 14. Burriss worries that the move is premature. Police provide updates on Mifflin Township shootout suspect 'Weapons are not in prisons for a reason,' Burriss said, adding that the long-term effects of taser use have not been sufficiently studied. 'I don't have a lot of confidence that somebody isn't going to get extremely hurt or somebody isn't going to die, and that somebody may not even be the person who is incarcerated,' she said. 'Tasers are only going to beget the cycle of violence that leads to people being incarcerated in the first place.' '[O]DRC's policy allows only those officers with direct interaction with the incarcerated population to carry a taser device,' the ODRC statement reads. 'This allows the managing officer (Warden), who knows that facility best, to identify those types of posts with a second approval process by the respective regional director to review and approve whether those posts identified shall be issued taser devices.' State leaders said if ODRC says tasers in prisons are necessary, they are inclined to fund that endeavor in the state budget. 'It seems to me to be appropriate, but I'm also not an expert in terms of prisoner management and things like that,' Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. 'But I don't, off the top of my head, have any opposition to that.' Donatos to open fully-automated pizza restaurant at John Glenn International this month 'I think that's a decision that should be made by the professionals in the field,' Gov. Mike DeWine said. 'I generally follow what their lead is, so that's about as far as I'm going to go on that.' Right now, the state budget cuts funding to ODRC over the next two years – 3% in 2026 and 4% in 2027. Burriss believes taxpayer dollars allotted to corrections should be spent in what she considers a more effective way. 'Our taxpayer money is better spent on things that we know do decrease violence in prisons and that will address those systemic problems like overcrowding and understaffing,' she said. 'Tasers are not going to rehabilitate somebody. They're not going to make somebody less likely to commit an act of violence and I think that's something we all want.' The state budget must pass by the end of June. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Nonprofit law firm sues Ohio corrections department over handling of inmates' legal mail
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A method some Ohio prisons use to prevent drugs from being trafficked into facilities through the mail is being challenged in court, with a nonprofit law firm claiming it invades inmates' privacy. The Ohio Justice and Policy Center filed a lawsuit on May 6 against senior managers of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction over the screening of mail between inmates and their attorneys. 'The paramount aspect of an attorney-client relationship is trust,' said Gabe Davis, OJPC Chief Executive Officer. 'This policy undermines that trust and opens the door for private correspondence to be viewed with total disregard for our client's civil rights and our First Amendment rights. We are suing the department because this has to stop now.' At the center of the lawsuit is the department's 'Legal Mail Policy Variance,' which instructs prison staff to make a photo copy of legal mail in front of the inmate it is addressed to, then give them the copy and shred the original. The practice is intended to secure legal mail and ensure contraband does not enter prisons. The policy was introduced at four of the 28 prisons the state oversees in winter and spring of 2024, including the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution, Marion Correctional Institution, Lebanon Correctional Institution and Ross Correctional Institution. 'The Legal Mail Policy Variance replaces a brief process of opening and inspecting legal mail with an extended process of copying and shredding that allows for many opportunities to read confidential legal mail,' the filing reads. The lawsuit alleges the policy has resulted in at least one confirmed instance of a staff member reading an inmates' legal mail, which was copied out of the incarcerated person's presence. The nonprofit law firm claims in the suit that it often receives mail from inmates containing allegations of misconduct by specific corrections officers, which could lead to retaliation if read by the employee. 'If our clients can't trust that they can be fully honest with us, we can't do our jobs,' said Lizett Martinez Schreiber, the managing attorney with OJPC. 'As attorneys, we have a duty to maintain trust. If the incarcerated people we work with feel like their mail is being monitored they won't be as transparent in their letters, fearing repercussions.' Other mail in Ohio prisons are opened and scanned by staff, before being delivered to inmates on an electronic tablet. The lawsuit only addresses legal mail practices, and does not challenge the handling of any other kind of mail. Drugs known as K2 or Spice, a synthetic cannabinoid, can be sprayed onto paper, incorporated into ink and otherwise concealed within mail, according to the chemical detection company 908 Devices. This can make it difficult to detect drugs visually, therefore many prisons have moved to photocopying mail in recent years. The civil rights suit claims the legal mail policy violates inmates First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, including their rights to freedom of speech and due process. The legal filing seeks to require the four correctional institutions to halt this policy and return to its original process. A spokeswoman for Ohio's corrections department said the state agency does not comment on pending litigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
