Dec. 25—CHILLICOTHE — A corrections officer at an Ohio prison has died after an attack by an inmate, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
In a Facebook post published Wednesday afternoon, ODRC Director Annette Chambers-Smith announced that corrections officer Andrew Lansing was dead after being attacked by an inmate Wednesday morning at Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe.
“Officer Lansing has been a highly respected employee of Ross for many years, and his untimely death – on Christmas Day – is heartbreaking for his family, the entire Ross Correctional Institution family and our agency as a whole,” Chambers-Smith said in the statement. “Agent Lansing was well-liked by his colleagues and was known to be a great supporter of his fellow RCI staff. He was a friendly, outgoing officer who treated everyone with respect and was always a professional.”
Chambers-Smith continued to reflect on the added tragedy that such an incident brings on a holiday like Christmas, saying that losing an officer “at the hands of someone in our custody is a tragedy beyond all comprehension.
“Rather than go home after his shift to be with his family during this holiday, Officer Lansing made the ultimate sacrifice, and our agency will never be the same,” she added.
At the time of the Facebook post, which was posted at 1:51 p.m., the facility was operating under restricted conditions and the incident was under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The inmate involved in the incident, whose name was not included in the post, was transferred to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Lucasville, according to Chambers-Smith.
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