The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) is a 502-inmate capacity supermax Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whic ...

. Throughout the last two centuries, there have been two institutions with the name Ohio Penitentiary or Ohio State Penitentiary; the first prison was in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and ...

. Inmates in Levels 5B and 5A are classified as those who fail to adapt or those who are active participants/ring leaders of security threat groups. Level 4 inmates occupy similarly-designed cells but have additional freedom to move about within specific cell blocks. Inmates classified as Level 4B may also exercise within their specific cell block, but are also required to lock down before security staff enter the cell block to perform range checks, serve food, etc. Inmates classified as Level 4A are not subject to this restriction. Formerly, the majority of Ohio's

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ( ...

inmates were held at OSP. In January 2012, the majority of death row inmates were transferred to the

Chillicothe Correctional Institution Chillicothe Correction Institution, or CCI, is a state-run medium security prison on the west bank of the Scioto River just outside Chillicothe, Ohio. It is located adjacent to Ross Correctional Institution and Hopewell Culture National Histor ...

. OSP does retain death row cells for inmates who are considered the highest security risk. As of 2019, six high security death row inmates remain at OSP, four of whom were involved in the 1993 Lucasville prison riot at the

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (commonly referred to as Lucasville) is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2022, the warden is Donald Redwood. The ...

. Ohio State Penitentiary currently holds level 5, 4, 3 and 1 inmates. Level 1 inmates are housed outside of the institutional fence in their own building. Inmates placed in restricted housing for disciplinary rules infractions are locked down with the exception of showers, restrooms, and one recreation period of one hour, 5 days per week.

Original prison

The original Ohio Penitentiary was located in

. It was demolished in 1998 to make way for the

Arena District The Arena District is a mixed-use planned development and neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The site was developed through a partnership between Nationwide Realty Investors, Ltd. (a subsidiary of Nationwide), the City of Columbus and private inve ...

. During its time of operation, the penitentiary hosted many notable prisoners including James H. Snook and the novelist

O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include " The Gift of the ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, the prison housed members of

John Hunt Morgan John Hunt Morgan (June 1, 1825 – September 4, 1864) was an American soldier who served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War of 1861–1865. In April 1862, Morgan raised the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment (CSA) and fought in ...

's Confederate

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

, who had been detained following

Morgan's Raid Morgan's Raid was a diversionary incursion by Confederate cavalry into the Union states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia during the American Civil War. The raid took place from June 11 to July 26, 1863, and is named for the command ...

. Morgan and several of his men successfully escaped captivity and returned to the South.

2011 hunger strike

In January 2011, three men on Ohio's Death Row, Keith LaMar, Jason Robb and Carlos Sanders, held a twelve-day long hunger strike. The reason for the strike was that they were not receiving equal treatment and privileges as the other death row prisoners, which LaMar, Robb and Sanders believed was because they were placed on death row due to their involvement in the 1993 Lucasville prison riot at the

. The prisoners drew influence for their strike from the

1981 Irish Hunger Strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Ca ...

, which lasted for 53 days. The prisoners' requests were that they wanted more time out of their cells, access to sunlight, access to more food and warm-weather clothing through commissary. They also requested semi-contact visits and access to news and legal databases in order to help their attorneys file appeals to their sentences, all privileges that were accessible to the other death row inmates. Throughout the strike the three men met with the Warden to negotiate a signed agreement to their demands, which they received on January 14, 2011. Robb ended his hunger strike the same day they received the agreement, however LaMar and Sanders did not end their strike until the following day, when they also received a letter of support for the strike containing 1,200 signatures from around the world.

Notable inmates

* Brian Golsby (since 2018) - Kidnapped, raped, and murdered Reagan Tokes in 2017. * T.J. Lane (from 2014 to 2016) - Perpetrator of the Chardon High School shooting. Transferred here after escaping from Allen Correctional Institution.T.J. Lane and other two inmates who escaped transferred to Youngstown maximum security prison
/ref> Has since been moved to Warren Correctional Institution.

References

External links

Ohio State Penitentiary

Ohio Death Row Inmates {{Authority control Prisons in Ohio Buildings and structures in Youngstown, Ohio Supermax prisons Capital punishment in Ohio 1998 establishments in Ohio