ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced today the relocation of its primary death row housing unit to the Ross Correctional Institution (RCI) in Chillicothe, one of Ohio’s high-security prisons.
Since 2011, death row has been situated at Chillicothe Correctional Institution (CCI), a medium-security facility. The move to RCI aims to place death row inmates in a higher-security setting, enabling the modification of the current death row unit at CCI to accommodate 300 lower-security inmates.
Anticipated to take place in the spring, the move of death row to RCI, located across the street from CCI, ensures that the new death row housing area will be managed as a high-security specialized housing unit. Meals, recreation, and other activities will be conducted separately from the general population. Importantly, no layoffs are expected due to this relocation.
A few inmates on death row will continue to be housed at the Ohio State Penitentiary (maximum security), Warren Correctional Institution, and the Franklin Medical Center. The death row unit for female inmates will remain at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
History of death row locations:
- Before 1972: Ohio Penitentiary
- 1972: United States Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.
- October 19, 1981: Ohio’s current capital punishment statute took effect; death row was located at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
- 1995: Death row relocated to the Mansfield Correctional Institution.
- 2005: Death row relocated to the Ohio State Penitentiary.
- 2011: Death row relocated to CCI.
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