A state employee union went to court Thursday hoping to block the closing of 10 state prison farms.

A state employee union went to court Thursday hoping to block the closing of 10 state prison farms.

The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, which represents prison workers among its 30,000 members, is seeking a temporary restraining order in Franklin County Common Pleas court. A hearing date was not immediately set.

The union says it was "blindsided" when the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced April 12 that it would phase out and close all farm operations at 10 prisons. The state will sell thousands of acres of land, 2,300 beef cattle and 1,000 dairy cattle by the end of the year.

The state is moving quickly, setting up five auctions beginning May 18 to sell more than 1,000 cattle and farm equipment, according to documents obtained by the union.

OCSEA President Christopher Mabe said the state violated its contract by not informing the union in advance.

Mabe said the union questions why the farms are closing when $9 million in improvements at farms in London and Marion farms are still underway.

The union said the closings not only may strand 56 union employees, but will harm the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which has a cooperative food-growing arrangement with prisons, and the Ohio State University School of Veterinary Medicine that sends students to provide care for farm animals.

The state was in the prison farming business more than 100 years, but Director Gary Mohr said the farms no longer meet the agency's mission of rehabilitating inmates for returning to the work world after their release. Further, they are security risks with people dropping off drugs, tobacco and other contraband to be picked up by inmates and smuggled into prison, he said.

ajohnson@dispatch.com

@ohioaj