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| Ohio Ordered to Stop Transferring Inmates from Prison |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/18/2003 |
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The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said it will abide by a judge's ruling to stop moving inmates out of a Lima prison until a full hearing on its closing is held in two weeks. The 'very integrity of our three-branch system of government' would be made meaningless if the state proceeded to close Lima Correctional Institution before the hearing, Judge Jeffrey Reed of Allen County Common Pleas Court said Thursday. On Wednesday, Reed ordered the state to stop plans to lay off prison workers and scheduled an April 30 hearing on a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association to stop the closing. The union then asked Reed to order the state to stop moving inmates. More than 850 of the medium-security prison's 1,565 inmates have been transferred to other prisons in recent weeks. They are being moved in small groups, and 35 were transferred Thursday to Belmont Correctional Institution. The union is arguing that the closing violates its collective bargaining agreement with the state. Reed said Thursday that the lawsuit's issues could become moot if the state continued to close the prison before the hearing. The state never negotiated its decision to close the prison, to reassign some officers and to lay off other officers, the union said in a lawsuit filed Monday. The union also argues that the state is putting workers in danger by transferring Lima inmates to other overcrowded prisons. 'We have a very strong case that corrections' employees are going to be exposed needlessly to a dangerous workplace,' union spokesman Peter Wray said Thursday. The prison system was at 124 percent of capacity Thursday, said Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Culp. In his Wednesday ruling, Reed said any hardships a temporary delay in closing the prison would cause the state were far outweighed by hardships suffered by union members. Those hardships include 'the anxiety and uncertainty' of layoffs, the loss of overtime and added driving time to another prison. The state says keeping the prison open past its scheduled closing date of July 13 will cost the state $78,000 a day it did not allot for in the budget. Gov. Bob Taft in January ordered the closing to save $25 million a year and help balance Ohio's budget. That figure is about 2 percent of the prison system's $1.4 billion annual budget and a fraction of the state's current $44 billion budget. |
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If you’re looking for a lawyer in Waco, you’ll need to know that the first to hire Dunnam & Dunnam usually wins. If you have a personal injury claim, an insurance claim, or other matter involving a court or business transaction you should contact the best Waco attorneys to explain your legal rights. You can contact them on the website link above.