Ohio Legislators Visit Youngstown's Death Row

Youngstown's death row

3 state representatives and a state senator who toured death row Thursday at the Ohio State Penitentiary on the East Side emerged three hours later more convinced than ever that the death penalty should be abolished.

State Reps. Nickie J. Antonio, D-13 Lakewood, Ted Celeste, D-24 Grandview, and Roland Winburn, D-40 Harrison Township, and state Sen. Edna Brown, D-11 Toledo, spoke eight minutes with reporters about what they had seen inside the prison and why the ultimate punishment in Ohio should be life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Also on the tour was the chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee, Lynn Slaby, R-41 Akron, who chose not to meet with reporters. Winburn is the ranking member of that committee.

Antonio and Celeste have introduced a bill in the Ohio House to abolish the death penalty, a proposal that will have supporters testify before the Criminal Justice Committee the first or second week of November, Celeste said. They have enlisted two Republicans as co-sponsors, he related, although most of their co-sponsors are Democrats.

Brown recently introduced a similar bill in the Senate, she said. Chances of the bills emerging from committee or having the two chambers vote on the bills are iffy at best, Celeste and Antonio allowed.

"We're not in control [of the General Assembly]," Celeste said.

Antonio is keeping the faith. When reminded that the Republican Party is firmly in control of both chambers, she responded, "It's always a good day to do the right thing."

She noted that Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeiffer, who as a state representative helped write the legislation in 1981 that restored the death penalty in the Buckeye State, has since reversed his stand.

Indeed, last January, Pfeiffer, a Republican, asked Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, for his support in abolishing the death penalty in favor of a life sentence without parole.

Through a spokesman, Kasich said he supports keeping the death penalty.

Antonio pointed out that this session of the House "lasts to the end of May [2012]" so that however long the odds, it could happen.

And the Criminal Justice Committee asked the 4 representatives to personally visit the penitentiary and report back what they learned, which Celeste and Antonio take as an encouraging sign.

Celeste, Antonio, Winburn and Brown were solemn in delivering their answers to reporters in the parking lot outside the main entrance, where 117 inmates are housed on death row.

The Criminal Justice Committee wanted "a personal view of what life is like on death row," Celeste began.

The committee wanted to know if conditions were "cushy," Antonio added. "They're clean but not cushy. ... An inmate said he'd rather be executed than live the rest of his life in prison. He came in a young man and he's got a long haul."

Besides living "in a very, very small space," some on death row live "a life of the isolation," Antonio found. They have no direct human contact; even their food is provided them through openings in their cell doors.

While inmates on death row are housed at the Ohio State Penitentiary, executions take place in a state prison in Lucasville. The penitentiary on the East Side, built in 1998, has a security staff of 397 to guard 614 prisoners, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Celeste expressed a degree of surprise at the difference between what he found touring the prison here and the death rows depicted in movies and on television dramas. It was much quieter inside a real death row, he said.

For those who object to how much government spends on its operations, Antonio pointed out it costs considerably more to execute a prisoner than have him serve a life sentence. She mentioned a study in California that found it's 10 times as expensive to put a prisoner to death than have him serve a life sentence.

"That might sound counterintuitive," Celeste added. But when the expense of defense lawyers, often paid for by the state, prosecutors fighting the appeals, and court time are taken into consideration, it's more expensive to execute prisoner, to say nothing of the added security expense.

The Department of Rehabilitation reports it costs the state $149.48 a day to lodge a prison in the penitentiary on the East Side.

State officials reportedly are considering moving the inmates on death row from here to the Chillicothe Correctional Institution in Chillicothe. The move would reduce transportation and personnel costs, officials say, and free up high-security cells that would be used to house violent prisoners.

Celeste and Antonio agree, as she explained to reporters, the state "would enjoy a major cost savings to have life without parole."

On top of which, Celeste agrees with the inmate who told Antonio he'd welcome execution. "Life without parole is an incredible punishment," Celeste declared.

Another benefit, which cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, is the sense of closure most families would feel at no longer attending court hearings when judges agree to hear a prisoner's appeal, Antonio said. "Every time there's a hearing," she said, "they have to live this horrible happening all over again."

Source: The Business Journal, Sept. 30, 2011

Lawmakers propose end to death penalty in Ohio

There is a new proposal to abolish the death penalty in the state of Ohio.

A delegation from the State House Criminal Justice Committee toured the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown to see what it's like on death row. They also reflected on what it's like to spend life in prison.

"I can tell you it is clean in there, but it is not a cushy life," said Representative Nickie Antonio, a Democrat from Lakewood. "And we heard from one of the inmates who said he would rather be executed than live out his life in prison."

"Life without parole is an incredible punishment," added Representative Ted Celeste, a Democrat from Grandview. "An incredible punishment."

The 2 co-sponsored House Bill 160, which would abolish capital punishment in Ohio. "Taking a life is not the appropriate penalty," Celeste said.

They say a life sentence is cheaper. "Primarily because of all the appeals and the time spent and there's extra precautions and money spent when you carry out an execution," added Celeste.

Amnesty International reported that a study done in Kansas found that death penalty cases cost 70% more than non-death penalty cases. In Maryland they cost 1/3 as much.

Valley State Representative Ron Gerberry has traditionally supported the death penalty, but says he's open to new ideas. "Times change and people's thinking change on issues," Gerberry said. "I just think it's time that we debate it."

State Senator Joe Schiavoni also supports the death penalty, and although he's open to a study on the issue, he says he believes it's reserved for the most heinous crimes. "When I think about the death penalty in general I think about the victims," Schiavoni said. "And sometimes that's a way to give them closure, that's a way to give them justice."

Proponents of H.B. 160 say they're thinking of the victims' families, too. "We've also heard from the victim's families who have said they're supportive of life without parole rather than the death penalty because every time there's another hearing, every time there's an appeal it makes them have to relive the horrible happening all over again," explained Representative Antonio. "And they would like to move on with their lives."

Testimony will begin in November for the house bill.

State Senator Edna Brown, a Democrat from Toledo, plans to introduce a companion bill in the Senate.

Source: WFMJ News, Sept. 30, 2011