Testimony before the
House Finance Committee on Transportation
131st General Assembly
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
Fiscal Years 2015 – 2016
Operating Budget
Presented by: Tim Mulrooney, Corrections Officer – Ohio State Penitentiary
Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 11
March 19, 2015
Good morning Chairwoman Grossman and members of the Committee.
My name is Tim Mulrooney and I have worked as a Correction Officer at the Ohio State Penitentiary for 14 years. Prior to that I worked for 15 years in the municipal courts.
I am testifying before you today to tell you about a recent on-the-job assault to my partner and myself and explain why I think Ohio’s state prison programming cannot be one-size-fits-all and why the most dangerous, high-level inmates, still need to be accountable for their violent actions.
On Dec. 9, my partner, Officer Dave Kowacich, and I reported for duty to return inmates from their assigned Program Booth where they were being trained to take their GEDs. These inmates are at Level 5 security, which means they are the most closely supervised group of inmates we have.
When we walked into the programs area, we began prepping inmates for return to their cells. We proceeded with cuffing the inmates from the front, which is protocol for returning inmates. But before we could restrain them, things took a dangerous turn. Almost simultaneously, two of the Level 5 inmates turned abruptly and stabbed both my partner and me directly in our necks. We were stabbed with handmade “shanks” that were likely made out of old chair pieces.
Seeing my partner hit first before I felt any pain myself, I knew we were under attack and needed to get to safety. Despite bleeding profusely, both Officer Kowacich and I were able to retreat quickly out of the program area and call for help.
Thanks to the quick response of the prison medical team, they were able to stop the bleeding fast and get both of us to a nearby hospital. And, thanks to the reinforcements team, we were able restore order in the program area without further incident.In the end, I suffered a small inch puncture wound. But the scary thing is that both of our wounds were only inches away from our main arteries, which if hit, we’d probablybe telling you all a whole different story, or worse, no story at all.
Whether the event was premeditated or we were simply targets of opportunity, we don’t know. But, what we do know is that programming for our highest level, repeat-violent offenders must be re-thought.
I believe in programming. I’ve seen it work. I believe in parts of Director Mohr’sOhio Plan and in the chance to give inmates a second chance or religious opportunities. But to take a Level 5 inmatewho is notorious for attacking guards repeatedly, has repeatedly stabbed officers and inmates in other facilities and someone who has been shuffled aroundfrom state to state, because no other state wants them—and to give them the same opportunities within the prison as other inmates, that’s a problem. A one-size-fits-all programming plan just doesn’t work, and insisting that our most violent Level 5 inmates participate in the same manner as the other inmates, is just a recipe for disaster.
However, this one-size-fits all approach, unfortunately, is a just a symptom of a larger problem. ODR&C continues to put inmate programming above security. Instead of expanding the pie, so resources are allocated adequately for all, the department has robbed Peter to pay Paul. Vast resources have been shifted to accommodate more and more programming, but at the expense of front line staff. The number of Correction Officers has gone down and the rate of violence has gone up. We realize that programming, such as earning a high school diploma, can have a positive effect on inmate reentry and on recidivism. We support that. However, there are other inmates who continue to break the rules inside the prisons and suffer few or no consequences for their actions. They continue to disrespect staff, hurt staff, stab staff and suffer no repercussions. Yet we continue to offer them the same level of programming as everyone else who’s played by the rules. It’s unfair. Plus, the more serious consequences of this sort of (mis)allocation of funds will be measured not in recidivism rates, but in serious injury rates of Corrections staff.