Millions of public dollars spent annually to care for Ohio’s aging inmate population

Mar. 28, 2010, Mansfield News Journal

BY JESSICA ALAIMO

CentralOhio.com

COLUMBUS — On March 7, death row inmate Lawrence Reynolds overdosed on pills.

The Ohio State Penitentiary inmate was rushed to a Youngstown hospital. After nine days and some intensive care, he was taken to Lucasville — and executed.

You paid for the whole process, from the 24-hour surveillance after he OD’d to his hospital stay to his lethal injection. While the circumstances were unique, the fact Reynolds received extensive health care behind bars was not.

Universal health care for Americans is a hot topic for debate, but it’s a given for the 50,783 inmates in Ohio’s state prison system.