Rules differ in new prison

The move will mean a longer drive for most killers' visitors.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
COLUMBUS -- Death row inmates, their move to a new prison imminent, will no longer be allowed to smoke but will gain extra hours outside their cells, according to new prison system rules.
Ohio is moving death row from Mansfield Correctional Institution to the state's supermaximum security prison on Youngstown's East Side to save money.
For security reasons, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction won't say when the move is taking place, but a document given inmates last week said the transfer "may occur within the next seven days."
Among other changes, inmates at Youngstown can spend more money at the commissary on items such as toiletries and snacks -- $240 a month, up from $225, department documents show.
They will eat outside their cells in small groups instead of having meals served in their cells. Inmates also will have up to five hours a day of recreation outside their cells, compared with one hour a day currently for most death row inmates.
Chance for change
Architecturally, the Ohio State Penitentiary at Youngstown offered chances to make changes because of the way the cells and units are designed, said Terry Collins, the prison system's deputy director.
"Very few inmates on death row create disciplinary problems," Collins said. "We worked with the theory that we'll give more out-of-cell time, more privilege-type incentives, and of course if you violate those, then you'll suffer the consequences."
The prison system recognizes that relatives of victims killed by death row inmates may not appreciate some of the changes.
At the same time, "these individuals are still in prison, they're still under sentence of death, they're still on death row," Collins said.
Ohio's privileges are more restrictive than some states in certain categories, less in others.
State comparisons
In Florida, which has 367 death row inmates, the prisoners are still allowed to smoke but take their meals in cells. In Texas, with 411 death row inmates, smoking is banned, meals are taken in cells and prisoners are allowed out just one hour a day.
In California, with 646 death row prisoners, the most in the nation, smoking also is banned, but inmates get at least 10 hours a week out of their cells. All California death row inmates take breakfast and dinner in their cells; some with good behavior records can eat a sack lunch outside their cells.
Two weeks ago, U.S. District Judge James Gwin rejected a lawsuit trying to block the Ohio move, turning down the contention of civil liberties advocates that the move would deny inmates' constitutional due process rights because a prior court ruling blocked inmates from being sent to the supermax prison unless they prove to be a security risk.
The ODRC facility in Youngstown actually contains two institutions: the supermax facility, which currently houses about 235 and has a capacity of 504); and a camp that houses 230 minimum security prisoners. They are there to work at the supermax doing various duties.
Impact on families
Of the 194 prisoners on death row, 59 were convicted in Cuyahoga, Mahoning, Summit and Trumbull counties, meaning shorter drives for their families after the move to Youngstown.
But the drive will be longer for the families of 62 inmates convicted in Franklin, Hamilton and Montgomery counties.
The parents of condemned killer Fred Treesh, who moved to Mansfield last year to be closer to their son, aren't sure what they'll do now.
Treesh, 40, was sentenced to death for a 1994 armed robbery and murder of a security guard in an adult bookstore in Eastlake.
"I don't like what my son has done, but he's still my son and I love him, and I want what time I have," said Helen Treesh, 66.