Glass City Jungle

The Columbus Dispatch has an article about the release of the Inspector General Report (link) and they also provide the full report in a pdf form, (link). I recommend taking the time to read the 48 page report. The office of Governor Strickland also sent out a media release on this topic which is below the fold as well as a release from the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Personally I think if the Inspector General Report is true and staff lied under oath? They should be terminated, their behavior creates more of a possible embarrassment to the Governor than the sting would have created, the report does state that Strickland himself was not involved in the decision to cancel the sting. What’s also disturbing is the problems noted with the use of inmate workers at the Governor’s residence. From the report:

Since 2007, the Governor‟s Residence honor inmate program has veered off-course. We found that due largely to a failure to integrate the prison security requirements of DRC, the administrative oversight responsibilities of DAS and the duties of the Executive Protection Unit (“EPU”), prisoners were permitted to walk outside the fence unescorted, where they received curb-side deliveries of contraband in broad daylight. We also discovered that inmates were permitted to have free access to knives, axes, chainsaws and a wide variety of other hand tools with no accountability whatsoever. Some of those items – including a razor blade and a utility knife – have been intercepted by corrections officers after Residence honor inmates attempted to smuggle them into the prison.

Governor Statement on Inspector General Report

Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today released the following statement regarding the Inspector General’s report on the departments of Administrative Services, Public Safety, and Rehabilitation and Correction oversight of the prisoner rehabilitation program at the residence and the January conveyance case.

“The Inspector General has concluded his extensive review of the circumstances surrounding this conveyance case. I believe that the decisions in this case were made by people acting in good faith. If decisions were made in order to protect me from some kind of embarrassment, that was unnecessary. I remain confident in Director Cathy Collins-Taylor, Colonel David Dicken and Lt. Joseph Mannion.

“Substantial amounts of time and attention has been put into this investigation. As the report concluded, many of the safety and security concerns outlined have already been addressed as a result of the Patrol’s security assessment and DRC’s program improvements. The prisoner intern program has been in existence since Governor Michael DiSalle initiated it in the 1960s. I continue to believe in the importance and relevance of this program and all of DRC’s rehabilitation programs.

“I have instructed the directors of the departments of Administrative Services, Rehabilitation and Correction and Public Safety to carefully review the report recommendations and to make appropriate modifications to state policies and procedures and take any appropriate administrative actions.”

Ohio Department of Public Safety Statement on Inspector General Report

(COLUMBUS) – The Ohio Department of Public Safety today released the following statement (attributable to spokesperson Lindsay Komlanc) regarding the Inspector General’s report on the departments of Administrative Services, Public Safety, Rehabilitation and Correction and oversight of the prison intern program at the residence and a January conveyance case.

“The Department will carefully and thoroughly review the report and, working in coordination with the departments of Rehabilitation and Corrections and Administrative Services, take any appropriate action regarding the recommendations.”