"Attorney General: Ohio refining execution policies," is the title of Andrew Welsh-Huggins' latest AP filing on the state's execution protocol. It's via the Coshocton Tribune.
The state once again is refining its execution policies following a judge's ruling that criticized minor variations to Ohio's procedures, Attorney General Mike DeWine said Thursday.
The announcement comes as another execution was temporarily placed on hold while the debate over these variations works its way through the federal courts.
"We believe we have a constitutional system," DeWine told The Associated Press Thursday. "We want to make it a better procedure pursuant to the federal judge's order."
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost stopped an execution in December because he said Ohio had broken its promise to follow its execution rules to the letter. He criticized the state for not properly recording a death row inmate's medical chart before an execution last fall and for not documenting the use of the lethal injection drug according to the written policies.
And:
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction could not immediately say Thursday what policies were being refined.
DeWine said that even if the new procedures pass muster with Frost, there are no plans to withdraw an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. DeWine said there are large constitutional issues that the high court must decide.
The article notes that Ohio's next scheduled execution in February 22nd. Michael Webb has petitioned the Ohio Parole Board for clemency.
Earlier coverage of Ohio lethal injection issues and the Webb case at the links. Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
Also from Ohio is news of the state's newly consolidated death row.
"CCI death row receives final inmates," is in today's Chillicothe Gazette. It's written by Jona Ison.
The final death row inmates have settled into Chillicothe Correctional Institution during the past week.
Mark Hooks, CCI public information officer, said the final inmates arrived Jan. 18. The first 27 death row inmates arrived in Chillicothe on Dec. 6.
"It's really going the way we want it to go. With anything new, there's little adjustments," Hooks said, adding no significant changes were made to the original plans for the move.
Altogether, 136 death row inmates were taken without incident in five trips to CCI from facilities in Mansfield and Youngstown, Hooks said.
And:
CCI is not housing all of Ohio's inmates on death row --the lone female death row inmate remains at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, four remain at the Franklin Medical Center, and six others, including four involved in the 1993 Lucasville prison riot, remain at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. The six are considered the highest security risks, meaning they are prone to repeated violent actions against prison staff and inmates.
The move of death row, which was decided in October, is part of the state's overall goal of reducing violence in Ohio's prisons by opening up several hundred needed high-security beds at Mansfield and in Youngstown.
Location was one of the deciding factors in the selection process since CCI is about midway between Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, where executions are performed, and the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus, where inmates needing medical attention are treated.
WSYX-TV has video in "Lawmakers Tour New Chillicothe Death Row," by Steve Levine.
Ohio Lawmakers spent some time in prison, locked up on death row.
House and Senate leaders took a tour of the newly renovated death row area inside the Chillicothe Correctional Institution.
140 inmates were recently transferred there to save state money and open up cell space.
$40,000 in tax money was used to remodel a section of the prison and install additional security equipment.
Earlier coverage of Ohio's death row consolidation begins at the link. Related posts are in the incarceration index.
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