Lucasville Hostages Receive Settlement

Four years after being injured or held hostage during the 1993 riot in Lucasville’s Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, 13 COs will receive a settlement of $1,775,000 from the state.

The 11-day siege in that facility left one officer and nine inmates dead. The family of slain officer Robert Vallandingham received a settlement of $850,000 in September 1995.

But the understaffing that helped cause the riots continues to be a problem, according to CO Ernie Conner, president of the Ohio Corrections Assembly and a member of the ACU Advisory Board. "I still don’t feel the state of Ohio is where it needs to be with inmate-to-staff ratios," says Conner.

The COs, members of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA)/ AFSCME Local 11, received amounts ranging from $10,000 to $380,000 — based upon the length of time each was held hostage, the physical and mental abuse suffered and the long-term effects of that abuse. Under the terms of the settlement, officers were allowed to keep payments they had received from AFSCME’s hostage insurance policy and workers’ compensation.

Of the 13 officers, only two have returned to work at Lucasville. Nine accepted jobs in other state agencies and one became a city police officer. One has been unable to return to work at all.