COLUMBUS, Ohio – Free hotel. Free meals. Free table and chairs. And a prison program free from any oversight.
That’s what Ohio’s inspector general discovered in a report released Thursday that details widespread mismanagement and abuse inside the Ohio Penal Industries.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, which oversees OPI, also had its chief inspector involved in some of the investigations.
Two employees were fired and third retired once investigators starting digging for answers and found that some used their positions within OPI for personal gain.
According to the inspector general, OPI is a multi-million dollar agency that is designed to provide vocational skills and meaningful work experience for inmates. It also acts like a bulk-retailer of sorts for state agencies, manufacturing and assembling items like office furniture that is sold to state agencies.
The report details how OPI employees forged cozy relationships with vendors and failed to follow proper procedures that might have skirted ethics rules and even placed inmates and employees in unsafe conditions.
Among the findings:
- Rep. Larry Householder was provided by OPI with $9300 worth of embroidered chairs and a custom-made table for free. Inspectors questioned an OPI sales manager if other state agencies had been provided with free equipment, to which they were told: “…not to that level… absolutely not.”
- State employees of OPI traded in farm equipment for heavy construction equipment when the state sold off its corrections-owned farms. The employees allowed a vendor of that heavy construction equipment to pay for their hotel, meals and alcohol - a possible ethics violation.
- A YouTube video features former DRC Director Gary Mohr driving a piece of heavy equipment to conduct some demolition at a state prison in Orient. In the video, he touts a heavy equipment training program for inmates. Inspectors discovered that when the video was recorded, no such program existed. Mohr later told investigators he was unaware that it had not come to fruition but wanted the state to model its own after one in Maryland.
- State employees with OPI may have received discounts on services provided at a state-run vehicle repair center.
According to Inspector General Randall Meyer, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction failed to provide oversight for one of its subordinate entities.
In a response to the report, DRC spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said: “We appreciate the Office of the Inspector General for taking the time to review this matter and for working collaboratively with DRC during their investigation. Aggressive actions have already been taken to improve overall operations, including leadership and personnel changes within the Ohio Penal Industries and significant changes in policy and procedures. We will review the report to determine what, if any additional steps, need to be taken.”
A person who answered the phone at OPI said he could not comment and directed questions back to DRC.
Rep. Householder provided the following statement:
“In January 2017, Dan Kinsel called to ask if Ohio Penal Industries could display a conference table in the Riffe Center. I was told that since the set would be a display and still owned by OPI, it would be at no cost to either the House or my office. I agreed to display the table in the Riffe, as a way to promote the good work that the inmates at OPI do. When we learned that OPI had acted improperly, my office asked that OPI pick up their table immediately, which they did.”
Other OPI employees named in the report did not immediately respond to messages left seeking comment.