Warden defends sealed cells for inmates

Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio — The warden at Ohio’s supermaximum security prison on Wednesday defended a decision to tightly seal cell doors, saying it stopped prisoners from hurling waste at guards.

Inmates are claiming in a federal lawsuit that conditions at the Youngstown prison are inhumane.

Ohio State Penitentiary Warden Todd Ishee testified that the prison had to install metal strips that seal the edges of cell doors after "a huge amount of inmate assaults on staff."

"They were throwing things through the gaps," particularly feces and bodily fluids, he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed the lawsuit on behalf of inmates. It contends that the metal strips are unique to the Ohio prison system and reduce air flow in the cells, where prisoners are confined alone 23 hours a day.

The strips also make it harder to speak to other prisoners, inmates said. "It’s like being in a tomb, really," Keith Garner testified Tuesday. "Before they sealed it up, you could hear pretty good."

Ishee said Wednesday that the cells still meet air-quality standards.

Prisoners also have said they were denied treatment for asthma, gum disease and heart problems.

The state agreed Tuesday to establish new medical procedures that will allow outside medical professionals to make treatment decisions for inmates.

The Ohio State Penitentiary was opened in 1998 to hold the most disruptive prisoners and has about 335 inmates. The state says all prisoners there have disciplinary records that include fighting, assaulting prisoners or guards, or getting involved in gangs.