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    • Ohio sheriffs investigate deaths in their own jails. Will this change?
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    Ohio sheriffs investigate deaths in their own jails. Will this change?

    Pabio Posted on

    An investigation by the Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and USA TODAY Network Ohio found that prison staff ignored serious health problems and injuries and failed to stop the flow of drugs.

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    Deaths in county jails should be investigated by an independent agency, not the sheriff who runs the jail, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said.

    “I think it would eliminate any concerns about appearance. So, I think it would be a positive thing,” DeWine said.

    More: Special investigation: in Ohio prisons, 220 inmates died in 4 years

    But the governor does not go so far as to demand a legal mandate for demand independent investigations about who is dying in county jails and why.

    At least 219 Ohioans have died in the past four years while held in county jails. Ohio began requiring prisons to report deaths and other critical incidents in 2020, but there are no penalties for failure to report. Some prison deaths have not been reported to the state.

    More than 75% of those who died – or 166 people – had not yet been tried for the crime for which they were detained. Some did not last 24 hours behind bars.

    A Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and USA TODAY Network Ohio investigation found that prison staff ignored health problems and serious injuries, withheld life-saving medications and equipment, failed to stop the flow of illicit drugs that inmates then used to overdose, and failed to not adequately monitored prisoners at risk of suicide.

    DeWine prefers to work with prison administrators rather than penalizing them for their failures.

    “Our experience has shown us that we can get a good result, a much better result by working with them, by helping them, by giving them training,” he said.

    DeWine said he would like to see if there is consensus in the Legislature to require independent investigations and hold prisons to state standards. Ohio has 181 standards for care, from medical treatment to adequate heating in the winter. In 2022, 31% of prisons did not meet all standards.

    Special investigation: In Ohio prisons, why did 220 inmates die in 4 years?

    In 2017, Texas adopted the Sandra Bland Act it requires an independent investigation into prison deaths and requires prisons to refer people with mental health and substance abuse problems for treatment. The law is named after a 28-year-old woman found dead in a jail after being arrested during a traffic stop.

    “No prison should investigate itself,” said Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas. “Why should the public trust an interested agency’s conclusion that ‘there is nothing to see here’? An independent investigation gives the public and families confidence that the death review is objective and avoids any real or perceived conflict of interest.”

    Deitch said that in addition to Texas, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota and Oregon have laws requiring independent investigations into deaths in custody in prisons and jails.

    “I think every state, including Ohio, should have such a law. This seems to be a basic check and balance to ensure the objectivity of these death investigations,” she said.

    Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost agrees that in-custody deaths should be independently investigated, saying “homemade investigations are not credible.”

    The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which reports to the attorney general, investigates some prison deaths but is not the appropriate agency to handle them all, Yost said. Instead, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction or a new state agency of prison experts should be given the task of investigating, he said.

    DeWine, however, said BCI is the best agency to conduct investigations into in-custody deaths, especially if there is a conflict of interest or potential criminal behavior.

    DeWine also said Ohio needs to do more to divert people with mental illness or substance abuse into treatment rather than imprisonment.

    A task force appointed by DeWine to improve access to state psychiatric hospital beds has made recommendations on how prisons can better care for people with mental health and substance abuse issues. Most of the 16,000 people incarcerated in Ohio’s prisons each day suffer from drug addiction, mental illness or both.

    In November, the group asked better assessments of mental health needs and risks for those entering the criminal justice system and better access in prisons to medications used to treat mental health and substance abuse issues.

    About a third of deaths in prison are suicides and another third are drug-related, either from overdoses or complications from drug treatment.

    DeWine said 75 of Ohio’s 89 prisons receive state or federal reimbursement for drug treatment for incarcerated people.

    Laura Bischoff and Erin Glynn are reporters for the Ohio bureau of the USA TODAY Network, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

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