Three Ohio State Penitentiary guards charged with assault

YOUNGSTOWN — Three Ohio State Penitentiary corrections officers were arrested on assault charges and arraigned today in municipal court: Daniel Gobel, 57, and Michael Henyard, 47, both of Youngstown; and Michael Robinson, 41, of Marion. Robinson also faces a charge of resisting arrest. A fourth guard was expected to turn himself in today.

Robinson is accused of ramming an inmate’s head into a door on April 1, 2006. The other guards are accused of staff-on-staff altercations that took place within the past year, according to William Rager, union president and corrections officer.

The guards are represented by Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Rager denounced the way the corrections officers were arrested Tuesday afternoon at the prison on Coitsville-Hubbard Road by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers. He said the men were arrested at shift change and marched out in handcuffs in front of staff and inmates.

Rager said all three guards had received an administrative review of their actions, with no charges against Robinson and minor discipline reprimands for Henyard and Gobel.