Ohio Prison Riot Anniversary: What Happened 20 Years Ago, And Are Ohio Prisons Still In Trouble?

The 20^th anniversary of the deadly prison riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution is approaching, and while the riot was a shock to Ohio corrections institutions, 20 years later, some are warning of continuing systemic problems for Ohio prisons.

What happened in 1993 at the prison that shocked Ohio decades ago? In short, a lethal prison riot that resulted in the death of inmates and a corrections officer and started on Easter Sunday. On April 11, 1993, an improbable mix of 450 prisoners - including members of rivals the Aryan Brotherhood and the Gangster Disciples - rioted at the maximum security Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, just outside of Lucasville, Ohio.

The prisoners took over the facility for 11 days, one of the longest prison upheavals in U.S. History. It was a tense situation as the prisoners had taken guards hostage. Prisoners considered killing a guard at one point during negotiations, but group decision - headed by representatives from Sunni Muslim prisoners, the Arian Brotherhood, and the Gangster Disciples - never decided to. However unknown prisoner(s) decided to kill Officer Robert Vallandingham and the unfortunate prison official was strangled with a dumbbell taken from the facility's weight room.

Investigations into the riot later found that nine inmates total were killed during the incident as well. Consensus was found to the root causes of the riot as well, finding that overcrowding, among other problems, had contributed to conditions favorable for a riot.

Now, according to the Columbus Dispatch, union officials for the correctional system are worried again about overcrowding and being understaffed. "It looks like a lot of the red flags that flashed in the early '90s are flashing again in Ohio," said Paul Goldberg, formerly of the Ohio Civil Services Employees Association. The current president of the union, Christopher Mabe, is also concerned, saying, "Short staffing and overcrowding are the number 1 issues today, just as they were before the riot."

Budget cutbacks in Ohio have erased some additional hires for corrections officers put in place after the riot. Since the year after the riot though, there has been a 20.6 percent increase in the inmate population, along with a 27.7 percent increase in corrections staff.