Ohio deploying stun guns inside two state prisons

Ohio is spending $349,400 to buy Tasers for corrections officers at two high-security state prisons.

The policy for how and when the stun guns will be used inside the prisons is still being developed.

The pilot project will start at Trumbull Correctional Institution in the coming weeks and then at Ross Correctional Institution in May, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

On Christmas Day at Ross Correctional, an inmate beat Officer Andrew Lansing to death. It marked the first employee death at the hands of a prisoner since 1996 when social worker Bonita Haynes was killed.

Ohio prison officials say the stun guns are needed because incarcerated people are now more violent and dangerous.

"Over 78% of those currently housed in the department have committed a crime of violence in their lifetime. This increase means that the inmates the staff supervise are more dangerous than they have been in the past, and we want our staff to have the tools to do their jobs safely," according to a statement from JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the state prison system.

Across Ohio's prisons, staff are outfitted with "man-down" buttons and radios to call for help and pepper spray. They do not carry firearms inside the prisons.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction added 5,100 body worn cameras for parole and prison officers in 2022. These supplement thousands of fixed cameras that monitor inside state prisons.

Axon sells both Tasers and body cameras. The initial purchase of body cameras cost about $6.5 million. The annual operating cost was $3.6 million last year.

The Tasers have built-in bluetooth signaling connected to the body cameras. The cameras will begin recording if a Taser is taken off safe mode.

Ohio consulted with prison systems in Michigan, Florida and North Carolina about the use of stun guns, Smith said.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.