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Union says waste, mismanagement should be tackled before taking $36 million from Lima for prison closing; Cuts put 17 prisons on watch list, 5 in “critical condition”

Feb. 6, 2003 - OCSEA leaders at a news conference today called on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to fix internal problems of waste and mismanagement before closing the Lima Correctional Institution. The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association said the closing would have “horrific” affect on the Lima economy.

The group also warned that previous prison cuts have already created dangerous levels of overcrowding and understaffing in over half of the state’s facilities.

Union Chart on Staffing and Overcrowding             

“The Lima area economy will lose at least $36 million annually from the closing,” said Craig Bradford, president of the union’s LCI Chapter. “Twenty million of the loss will come directly in loss payroll expenditures and nearly $5 million in health, dental and vision expenditures. We believe another
$10 million will be lost in local supply purchases, service contracts and utility operations.”

The union showed that nearly $22 million could be saved by eliminating waste in the prison system and streamlining management, including a proposal to merge management functions in 11 regions where several prisons are located in the same area. OCSEA said that free cars and housing for management staff were unconscionable perks that should be cut in this financial crisis. The union also repeated its call for the closure of the private prisons and accused ODRC of mismanaging payments at one of the private prisons.

“ODRC is throwing away over $3 million annually by mismanaging the number of inmates it sends to the Lake Erie Correctional Institution,” said OCSEA Vice President Dave Slone. “This is absolutely inexcusable and the legislature and the Administration should hold someone in the agency accountable.”

OCSEA charged that ODRC is dishonest about describing the potential for violence and other problems in prison system caused by staffing cuts and the closures of both entire prisons and parts of others. “ODRC claims that we are not at pre-Lucasville riot levels of overcrowding and understaffing,” said Tim Shafer, president of the union’s Corrections Assembly. “In fact, we have at least 17 prisons that have critical staffing and overcrowding problems including four that are operating at over 150 percent of capacity, two at over 200 percent of capacity and nine that have staffing levels above the 8-to-1 ratio."

Five prisons are in "critical condition" due to both overcrowding and understaffing - the Corrections Reception Center, Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Grafton Correctional Institution, Ohio Reformatory for Women and the Lorain Correctional Institution.

“Lima and Ohio cannot afford to lose this prison,” said OCSEA President Ron Alexander. “We call on both Democrats and Republicans to work with the Taft administration to resolve the state’s funding problems. The immediate losses to the Lima region and the potential losses in another prison riot demand immediate action.”

OCSEA represents approximately 10,000 prison employees including 7,000 correction officers.