Prison guards eye Strickland’s budget

LEBANON, Ohio (AP) — Overworked prison guards are hopeful that Gov. Ted Strickland’s budget proposal — which includes a $100 million funding boost for prisons — will go toward hiring more correction officers.

Ohio has eliminated more than 1,000 correction officers positions since 2000. This month, the number of officers dropped below 7,000 for the first time since staffing was increased just after the 1993 Lucasville riot, said Tim Roberts, vice president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association’s Corrections Assembly.

At the same time, the prison population has increased beyond the system’s intended capacity. Ohio has about 50,000 inmates, while the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has 32 institutions with 38,320 beds.

“Something needs to give,” said Marc Spencer, a corrections officer and president of his union. “The state needs to find a way to accommodate the inmates and the staffing.”

At Lebanon Correctional Institution near Cincinnati, 354 correction officers oversee 2,600 prisoners in a facility built to hold just 1,440 inmates. With 40 officer vacancies, guards are often told 15 minutes before their shifts end that they’re needed for another full shift, which starts immediately.

“Sixteen hours inside a prison is a long day,” Spencer said. “It’s rough on your body.”

During the last week of January, Lebanon officers worked nearly 400 hours of overtime, he said.

Strickland warned last week he would have to close a prison in 2011 unless the state prison population is reduced. He also said Ohio must change its sentencing laws and add money for halfway houses to help slow inmate growth.