Guards' union wants DeWine to suspend prisons director and warden

The state prison guards union is asking Gov. Mike DeWine to suspend his prisons director and the Ross Correctional Institution warden pending the investigation of a guard’s death at the facility in Chillicothe.

Ohio Civil Services Employees Association President Chris Mabe sent a letter to DeWine on Thursday, following the fatal attack on Correction Officer Andrew Lansing on Christmas Day.

Mabe said Lansing’s death as well as the fatal shooting of Lt. Rodney Osborne in April during a prison firearms training class underscore “an alarming lack of accountability and oversight within the DRC leadership.”

Annette Chambers-Smith has directed the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction since DeWine started as governor in January 2019. She serves at the pleasure of the governor. Bill Cool is the warden at 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 chronic staffing shortages must be fixed. Corrections facilities were long understaffed before the COVID-19 pandemic, and shortages have continued in the years since, Mabe said.

Between employees who are off and position vacancies, Ross Correctional Institution was short-staffed by as many as 40 officers as of 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 across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Prison guards’ union wants director and warden suspended

EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel