Ex-hostage joined Lucasville Correction Officers at two-day picket to oppose loss of security towers

Sept. 10, 2009 - Former Correction Officer Jeff Ratcliffe does not want state officials and legislators to forget what happened more than 16 years ago when the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution and the surrounding community was held hostage for eleven days following a prison riot.

That's why the retiree joined OCSEA members who work at the state prison in Lucasville for a two-day vigil. The informational picket began at 7 a.m. yesterday and ends it at 10 p.m. tonight.

The group is opposing a proposed reduction in security positions and the elimination of the guard towers that played a pivotal role in the 1993 prison riot in Lucasville.

They aren't the only ones walking the picket line in opposition, however. Concerned citizens—including school teachers, parents with school-age children, members of the area home association, and other unions—showed up to back OCSEA-represented correction officers and other union prison staff.

“All max security prisons should have operational towers,” said Ratcliffe, a former correction officer who was held hostage. “If something like this happened in 1993 and they didn’t have the towers, things would have been a lot different. Without the towers, they’d be heading for the fences.”

He emphasized that the community has not forgotten.

“Around here, you never forget what happened Easter Sunday of 1993. These people don’t forget.”

All OCSEA members are encouraged to join the Corrections Assembly activists on the picket line across the prison entrance. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is located at 1724 State Route 728 in Lucasville.

The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association represents nearly 35,000 public employees, 10,000 of which work in DR&C.

For more information, contact Sally Meckling, 614-865-2602 or 614-404-3881 (cell).

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