Ohio's death row inmates are moving to a new prison

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Ohio's death row housing is relocating to another prison within the state.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced the change for its convicts facing capital punishment on Friday. The male inmates were previously housed in a unit of the Chillicothe Correctional Institute. However, they will only move a 15-minute walk away from their original facility.

ODRC decided to move the death row inmates to the nearby facility because of its status as a high-security prison. The Chillicothe Correctional Institution cells where the majority of the state's death row inmates have stayed since 2011 are considered medium security, and will be modified to house 300 other prisoners.

The new death row housing at the Ross Correctional Institution will open in the spring. It will include meals, recreation and other activities separate from the general prison population, ODRC said.

Female death row inmates are housed at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, and were not part of the relocation at all, according to ODRC. A small selection of death row inmates are also housed at the Warren Correctional Institution, Franklin Medical Center and the Ohio State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison.

The move comes as Ohio lawmakers put legislation on the table to get rid of the state's death penalty altogether. Bipartisan bills in the Ohio House and Senate both surfaced during sessions in 2023.

“It astounds me that we continue to waste millions and millions of taxpayer dollars on a failed system that has never, never, proven to keep us safe,” said Adam Miller (D-Columbus).

One Republican has used their stance on abortion to support their interest in abolishing the death penalty.

“I believe life begins at conception and it ends with natural death,” said Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland). “The death penalty stops it because the death penalty is anything but natural.”

Ohio also has not carried out a death sentence since 2018. The state has continuously delayed upcoming execution dates because of issues with its main method, lethal injection. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine explained the reason as "ongoing problems involving the willingness" of drug suppliers to sell the ingredients for a deadly cocktail to ODRC.

Three executions are coming up in 2024 after being rescheduled:

• Timothy L. Hoffner: originally scheduled to be executed Aug. 11, 2021, rescheduled for June 18, 2024
• John David Stumpf: originally scheduled for Sept. 15, 2021, rescheduled for Aug. 13, 2024
• Lawrence A. Landrum: originally scheduled for Dec. 9, 2021, rescheduled for Oct. 15, 2024

Three other executions have been delayed from dates in 2024:

• Greg Lott: originally scheduled to be executed on Feb. 15, 2024, rescheduled for April 14, 2027
• John Stojetz: originally scheduled for March 14, 2024, rescheduled for May 19, 2027
• Archie Dixon: originally scheduled for April 17, 2024, rescheduled for June 16, 2027