A state lawmaker is calling on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to investigate the Dayton Correctional Institution. A recent state inspection of the women’s prison turned up several troubling allegations. Lewis Wallace of member station WYSO in Yellow Springs reports.
The Correctional Institution Inspection Committee surveyed and interviewed dozens of people at Dayton Correctional and heard many reports of sexual contact between staff and the women incarcerated there. Women also said guards were bringing in drugs. There was an increase in use of force, and reports of inadequate mental health services. A high percentage of the women surveyed said they had been prevented from filing grievances, or feared retaliation if they did.
Republican State Rep. Niraj Antani of Miami Township was on that inspection committee.
"It’s a big deal because taxpayer dollars are at stake here, and so we can’t just allow these things to go on at our prisons."
He’s asking prisons director Gary Mohr for a full investigation. In a written statement, the department of rehabilitation and corrections says these allegations are taken seriously, and the department is close to hiring an investigator.
DCI has a new warden as of December, and several people including the prison’s last investigator were recently fired for inappropriate behavior.
