To Chairman Manning, Vice Chair Reynolds, Ranking Member Hicks-Hudson, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, thank you for this opportunity to provide opponent testimony on Substitute House Bill 338.
As this committee knows, HB 338 is a direct response to the brutal and senseless killing of a corrections officer at Ross Correctional Institution in December 2024. As was expressed via sponsor testimony, HB 338 “will reform Ohio’s prisons and make them a much safer environment to work.”
However, HB 338 contains numerous provisions appearing to have nothing to do with this killing, nor do we predict they will make Ohio’s prisons safer. Ohio is already one of the very top incarcerators of people on the entire planet and HB 338 further rachets the punitive aspects of prisons at the expense of rehabilitation, a purported, but often ignored, goal of prisons in our state.
More specifically, House Bill 338:
- Eliminates all higher education programs at all higher security prisons. (Lines #2305-2306);
- Bans participation in vocational programs at higher security programs for anyone who has violated “serious violations” of conduct rules during the previous year, with DRC defining what is a “serious violation.” (Lines #2365-2359);
- Requires all visitations at higher security prisons to be no contact. (Lines #2284-2285);
- Bans individual use of tablets at higher security prisons and for those in restrictive housing. (Lines #2317-2325);
- Requires DRC to create and maintain a public registry of those who commit any sexual offenses while in prison, publish all the data involved regarding an offense on the DRC website, and keep all that data posted for ten years after the offender’s final discharge. (Lines #2387-2391, 2396-2399, 2403-2405)
The likely outcome of these changes is people exiting Ohio’s prison system less equipped to adjust to outside life, find employment, and keep themselves out of further trouble.
In addition, HB 338 requires these changes and many more with apparently zero data discussed, received, or requested by this committee regarding the current prevalence of problems HB 338 addresses or their predicted impacts once enacted into law.
That is, how often is violence targeted by HB 338 committed against prison staff? What is the prevalence of prison staff being assaulted by, or threatened with, the throwing of and exposure to bodily substances? How often do people get caught smuggling contraband into prisons (and how often is it the result of prison staff, not visitors)?
Indeed, the Columbus Dispatch and Signal Matters-Cleveland recently completed and reported on a comprehensive investigation into drug smuggling into Ohio prisons. There reporting reveals an apparently extensive problem of prison staff themselves smuggling drugs into our prisons and often with little, if any, negative legal or employment consequences:
- “SMUGGLED: An Investigation Into How Ohio Can’t Stop State’s Deadly Prison Drug Trade,” Columbus Dispatch, March 29, 2006 https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2026/03/29/smuggled-an-investigation-into-how-ohio-cant-stop-states-deadly-prison-drug-trade/89307062007/
- “Prison Workers Smuggle Drugs Into Ohio Facilities But Are Rarely Prosecuted,” Columbus Dispatch, March 29, 2026 https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2026/03/29/ohio-is-failing-to-stop-prison-drug-trade-who-is-at-fault/88722790007/
- “How A Former Ohio Corrections Officer Became A Prison Drug Smuggler,” Columbus Dispatch, March 29, 2026 https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2026/03/29/how-a-former-ohio-corrections-officer-became-a-prison-drug-smuggler/88722689007/
- “Smuggled Drugs Fuel Chaos Inside Ohio Prisons,” Columbus Dispatch, March 29, 2026 https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2026/03/29/how-deadly-synthetic-drugs-are-smuggled-into-ohio-prisons/88722616007/
- “Year-Long Study Details How Drugs Are Being Smuggled Into Ohio’s Prisons,” WOSU Public Media (All Sides with Amy Juravich), April 24, 2026 https://www.wosu.org/show/all-sides/2026-04-24/year-long-study-details-how-drugs-are-being-smuggled-into-ohios-prisons
We understand some of you may be unbothered by the changes and sentencing enhancements found in HB 338. Nonetheless, these changes will still impact Ohio’s prison population and the capacities of individual prisons (as well as our youth system). After all, that is what HB 338 is designed to accomplish. This is especially relevant because Ohio’s prison system is over capacity and has been for decades.
Currently, the budget for the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections is over $2 billion per year. As this committee knows, there are also notable shortages and vacancies in prison staff across DRC. And, of course, the number one reason a person enters an Ohio prison continues to be for drug possession, as has been the case for many years now, in a state that continues to embrace and perpetuate the thoroughly failed War on Drugs.
In short, The ACLU of Ohio further advocates for a narrower version of HB 338 that directly addresses issues of serious prison violence instead of a kitchen sink bill that dilutes the focus on the stated goal of reducing that violence and, we believe, contains various changes that will prove to be counterproductive.
Making prisons safer for staff, visitors, and those incarcerated is a laudable goal. However, for the reasons listed, and more, the ACLU of Ohio encourages this committee’s rejection of House Bill 338.
