The state prison guards union is asking Gov. Mike DeWine to suspend his prison director and the warden of the Ross Correctional Institution pending the investigation into the death of a guard at the prison in Chillicothe.
Chris Mabe, president of the Ohio Civil Services Employees Association, sent a letter to DeWine on Thursday, following the fatal attack on corrections officer Andrew Lansing on Christmas Day.
Mabe said Lansing’s death and the fatal shooting of Lt. Rodney Osborne in April during a firearms training course at the prison “underscore an alarming lack of accountability and oversight within the DRC leadership.”
Annette Chambers-Smith has led the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction since DeWine began as governor in January 2019. She serves at the pleasure of the governor. Bill Cool is the warden of Ross Correctional, according to the state website.
DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the governor’s office will review the letter and respond in due course.
Mabe said the chronic staff shortage must be resolved. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, corrections facilities were long understaffed, and shortages have persisted in the years since, Mabe said.
Between off-duty employees and vacancies, Ross Correctional Institution was short-staffed by as many as 40 officers on Wednesday, Mabe said.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations in Ohio.
This article originally appeared in The Columbus Dispatch: Prison guards union wants warden and warden suspended
