A corrections officer at a Ross County state prison was killed on Christmas Day.
Corrections officer Andrew Lansing died after attacking an inmate at Ross Correctional Institution in Chillicothe, according to a prepared statement shared on social media by Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Lansing was a long-respected employee at the Ross County plant, Chambers-Smith wrote. She added that Lansing was well-liked by his colleagues and was a “friendly, outgoing officer who treated everyone with respect and was always a professional.”
Read more: Ohio prison lieutenant Rodney Osborne, fatally shot during training, remembered as a hero
She wrote that his untimely death, especially on Christmas Day, is “heartbreaking for his family, the entire Ross Correctional Institution family and our agency as a whole.”
“Losing a staff member is difficult, but losing a family member on Christmas Day to someone in our custody is a tragedy beyond comprehension,” Chambers-Smith wrote. “Rather than go home after his shift to be with his family this holiday, Officer Lansing made the ultimate sacrifice, and our agency will never be the same.”
The Ross Correctional Institution is currently operating under restricted conditions following Lansing’s death. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the incident and the inmate suspect has been taken to Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, Chambers-Smith said.
Lansing’s death comes just a few months after another corrections officer was killed during a training exercise.
Lt. Rodney Osborne of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Southern Ohio Correctional Facility was killed during a training exercise in April.
mdevito@gannett.com
This article originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch: Corrections officer killed after assaulting inmates on Christmas Day
