RWC Professor Marilyn Simon’s Criminal Justice classes had a unique opportunity for a field trip this quarter. On November 15, Simon and about 30 students, boarded a bus and made the 110 mile pilgrimage to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. If Lucasville rings a bell, it’s probably because of all the publicity it got a few years back when it was site of one of the biggest, most notorious prison riots in the state’s history.
The facility at Lucasville is Maximum security and currently houses about 1,400 offenders. About 98 percent of the population is made up of inmates sent from other correctional institutions for the purpose of increasing their level of supervision. For this reason, Lucasville is aptly thought of as housing the ‘worst-of-the-worst,’ where offenders are concerned; the least cooperative and the most violent offenders in the state are frequently sent here, or to Youngstown, as a last resort.
Students were able to tour cell blocks, see dining and recreation areas, and observe Ohio Prison Industries (OPI), which is where the inmates work to produce goods for State use.
Students also had the opportunity to see the “Death House”, where death row sentences for the State of Ohio are eventually meted out.
The trip was sponsored by UC’s Provost Offices’ Success Challenge Grant, which Professor Simon applies for each quarter to fund similar activities. Tentative outings to Warren County and Lebanon Correctional Institutes are in the works for Winter Quarter.