Death Row coming to Y-Town Supermax

[yfdgricker]

Published im the Youngstown Vindicator on Tuesday, October 4, 2005...

Death row heads to Mahoning Valley

A judge worries about inmates' access to lawyers at the supermax.

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS

COLUMBUS — A federal judge ruled Monday that the state can move death row to its supermax facility in Youngstown, while cautioning that he will monitor prison officials' efforts to make promised changes to the prison.

Opponents of the move, proposed by the state to save money, did not prove that the transfer "would create an atypical or significant hardship," U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin of Cleveland said in a 21-page ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state over the move, arguing that it would deny inmates' constitutional due process rights because a prior court ruling blocked inmates from being sent to the Youngstown prison unless they prove to be a security risk.

The 194 men on death row are housed at Mansfield Correctional Institution, where death row was moved after the 1993 riots at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is ready to move the inmates but for security reasons, wouldn't give a date.

Most dangerous

The Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown is designed to hold the state's most dangerous prisoners who have poor conduct records. Except for an hour a day, inmates are kept in 80-square-foot cells built to prevent them from communicating with each other.

The state said death row inmates would not be subjected to the same restrictions of the supermax's other inmates.

Inmates will be allowed out of their cells 35 hours a week, be given five hours of outdoor recreation time a week and will be able to eat together, something they can't do currently, according to arguments the state made during an August trial over the move.

Judge Gwin said that such proposals couldn't be seen as a significant hardship on inmates, but that he is concerned the department wouldn't follow through on its promises.

Judge Gwin also said he was concerned about death row inmates' access to lawyers at the supermax. In Mansfield, inmates can meet with lawyers in a private conference room, he noted.

By contrast, meetings with lawyers at the supermax take place in open booths that allow others to hear the conversation.

"The meaningful access to counsel is an important right for death row inmates," Judge Gwin said.

Staughton Lynd, an attorney who argued the case for the ACLU, said it would still be better to keep the inmates at Mansfield but the judge's order ensures the state will live up to its promises.

Judge Gwin is "saying they can go ahead, but he's leaving open the possibility that at some future date he will say, 'You aren't doing what you said,'" Lynd said.

Attorney General Jim Petro said that he was pleased by the ruling and that the state will make sure Gwin's concerns are addressed.

The state has estimated it would save from $5 million to $6 million a year by eliminating 91 jobs at Mansfield.

Messages were left with the prisons department.

No layoffs

The supermax was built to house 502 inmates but did not lay off employees even as the population fell below 250 prisoners.

As a result, about 245 guards watch about 230 inmates, according to Gwin's rulings.

During the trial, Terry Collins, a prison system assistant director, acknowledged he was weak in failing to decrease the number of staff members at the supermax.

"If I had to do it over gain, I would have, but the fact remains that I didn't do it," Collins said, according to Judge Gwin's decision.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005

A judge worries about inmates' access to lawyers at the supermax.

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS

COLUMBUS — A federal judge ruled Monday that the state can move death row to its supermax facility in Youngstown, while cautioning that he will monitor prison officials' efforts to make promised changes to the prison.

Opponents of the move, proposed by the state to save money, did not prove that the transfer "would create an atypical or significant hardship," U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin of Cleveland said in a 21-page ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state over the move, arguing that it would deny inmates' constitutional due process rights because a prior court ruling blocked inmates from being sent to the Youngstown prison unless they prove to be a security risk.

The 194 men on death row are housed at Mansfield Correctional Institution, where death row was moved after the 1993 riots at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is ready to move the inmates but for security reasons, wouldn't give a date.

Most dangerous

The Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown is designed to hold the state's most dangerous prisoners who have poor conduct records. Except for an hour a day, inmates are kept in 80-square-foot cells built to prevent them from communicating with each other.

The state said death row inmates would not be subjected to the same restrictions of the supermax's other inmates.

Inmates will be allowed out of their cells 35 hours a week, be given five hours of outdoor recreation time a week and will be able to eat together, something they can't do currently, according to arguments the state made during an August trial over the move.

Judge Gwin said that such proposals couldn't be seen as a significant hardship on inmates, but that he is concerned the department wouldn't follow through on its promises.

Judge Gwin also said he was concerned about death row inmates' access to lawyers at the supermax. In Mansfield, inmates can meet with lawyers in a private conference room, he noted.

By contrast, meetings with lawyers at the supermax take place in open booths that allow others to hear the conversation.

"The meaningful access to counsel is an important right for death row inmates," Judge Gwin said.

Staughton Lynd, an attorney who argued the case for the ACLU, said it would still be better to keep the inmates at Mansfield but the judge's order ensures the state will live up to its promises.

Judge Gwin is "saying they can go ahead, but he's leaving open the possibility that at some future date he will say, 'You aren't doing what you said,'" Lynd said.

Attorney General Jim Petro said that he was pleased by the ruling and that the state will make sure Gwin's concerns are addressed.

The state has estimated it would save from $5 million to $6 million a year by eliminating 91 jobs at Mansfield.

Messages were left with the prisons department.

No layoffs

The supermax was built to house 502 inmates but did not lay off employees even as the population fell below 250 prisoners.

As a result, about 245 guards watch about 230 inmates, according to Gwin's rulings.

During the trial, Terry Collins, a prison system assistant director, acknowledged he was weak in failing to decrease the number of staff members at the supermax.

"If I had to do it over gain, I would have, but the fact remains that I didn't do it," Collins said, according to Judge Gwin's decision.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
A federal judge ruled Monday that the state can move death row to its supermax facility in Youngstown, while cautioning...