Twenty years ago this month, many Ohioans were stunned when inmates at a state prison in Lucasville went on an 11-day rampage. In addition to murdering nine fellow inmates, the rioters took several guards hostage.

When their demands were not met quickly enough to suit them, some of the rioters murdered guard Robert Vallandingham. He was strangled to death.

Eventually, the rioters were subdued. Five were sentenced to death for their roles in the butchery.

State officials improved conditions at Lucasville and other prisons in efforts to avoid similar outbreaks in the future.

Now, however, warnings are being heard that problems such as those blamed for the Lucasville riot have crept back into the prison system. Overcrowding and lack of adequate prison personnel have been cited.

Ohio has made important strides in reducing prison overcrowding during the past few years, but it remains a problem. And, of course, state budget cutbacks have been felt in the corrections system….

Response to a union study of problems in prisons has been cynical, to some extent, with some observers saying the union is merely using the 20th anniversary of the Lucasville riot to pursue its agenda.

Still, the issue should not be ignored. State officials should take a critical look at the prison system, to prevent surprises such as the bloody one in 1993.

The (Tiffin) Advertiser-Tribune

 

Medicaid fight is politics trumping common sense

The move by Ohio House Republicans to thwart Gov. John Kasich’s proposed expansion of Medicaid to nearly 300,000 Ohioans is a prime example of a political ideology trumping common sense and human compassion.

It’s as if House Republicans are more interested in rejecting a provision of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act than they are providing an opportunity for working Ohio families to get medical coverage and for Ohio medical providers to get paid for the services they are already providing for people in need…

The state has the opportunity to expand Medicaid coverage to families with incomes up to 138 percent of federal poverty level (about $15,400 per person or $23,050 for a family of four)….

Gov. Kasich famously said a few days after his election in 2010 that those who hadn’t supported him should climb aboard because, “If you’re not on the bus, we’ll run over you with the bus.”

We suspect he has come to regret such hubris now, when Republicans in the General Assembly seem intent on proving who is boss (even if it means hard working Ohioans — people without health coverage and the hospitals, nursing homes, doctors and nurses who treat them — are the ones who are hurt).

Over seven years, Ohio could receive as much as $13 billion from the federal government to cover newly eligible Medicaid recipients. Keeping that much money out of the state’s health-care pipeline is bad public policy and a disservice to every Ohioan.

The (Youngstown) Vindicator