Ohio prison inmates sue Governor DeWine and demand the release of thousands of prisoners as deaths in Ohio's prisons from the coronavirus pile up, a disproportionate number of them Black....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, both also top in Black digital news in the Midwest
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| Ohio Governor Mike DeWine |
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, COLUMBUS, Ohio- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was sued Friday by a group of Ohio prisoners who want the immediate release of thousands of prisoners threatened by the outbreak of the coronavirus, a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives worldwide, some 1,600 of them in Ohio alone.
A disproportionate number of inmates that have died in state prisons in Ohio of the coronavirus, and those who have nationally lost their lives in the custody of their respective states, are Black.
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status and the release of more than 15,000 prison inmates, comes as common pleas judges throughout Ohio are purportedly ignoring motions for the early release of prisoners.
The judges, who are not defendants in the case, say the courts are partially closed and that they have limited case dockets. Hence, some matters, like hearing early release motions, are often getting put on the back-burner, criminal defense attorneys argue.
The suit targets state officials and says that Ohio prisoners, no matter what sentence, have been given a death sentence as inmates are dying unnecessarily.
Some 12 inmates and one correction officer have died from the virus in the Marion Correctional Institution, and in all, 58 prisoners and two staffers have died in Ohio's 27 state prisons since the virus broke-out two months ago.
Filed in the U.S. District Court in Columbus, the suit accuses DeWine and the state’s prison director, Annette Chambers-Smith, both defendants in the case, of violating prisoners constitutional rights by failing to to control or prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and of having a negligent disregard for the welfare and safety of prisoners during a pandemic.
In addition to the release of thousands of inmates with medical conditions serving time on low-level felonies, attorneys representing the plaintiffs named in the suit have requested that the court order the governor and state prison officials to release low-security risk inmates and those who have served the majority of their sentences.
Some inmates should be given home confinement for the remainder of their sentences, the suit says.
Whether the governor, who can commute and pardon a sentence under state law, has authority or jurisdiction to order the mass release of prisoners during a pandemic remains to be seen as the suit will surely make its way through the appeals process once the trial court has ruled.
State law gives Ohio's public health director, currently Dr. Amy Acton, unlimited authority to issue orders she deems necessary during a pandemic, prompting a bill pushed by Republicans in Ohio's Republican- dominated state legislature that restricts Acton's authority, a bill that has passed the House that DeWine has promised to veto, if it passes the Senate.
Inmates are being forced to live or die as the virus sweeps through Ohio's prisons, and that's "cruel and unusual punishment," the suit says.
The suit is not pushing monetary relief, or money, though other lawsuits have been filed that seek punitive damages and other monetary relief, lawsuits that accuse the state and prison officials, among others, of causing or unconstitutionally perpetuating the coronavirus deaths of inmates through deliberate malfeasance and negligence.
Some of those who say they are victims of crime are against the early release of prisoners in mass.
"Hopefully they do not let my rapist out early," said Autumn Khasawneh in a Facebook post to Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com
Ohio has reported more than 26,954 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,581 deaths.
The deadly virus for which there is no vaccine has spread to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and the nation has nearly 1.5 million reported cases and some 90,724 people dead, worldwide figures regarding the pandemic showing that there are 4.8 million cases globally and more than 315,000 deaths.
The U.S. remains the hardest hit country.
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