The results of a surprise inspection of the Lake Erie Correctional Institution (LECI) were released yesterday and they provide further evidence of what we already knew: Kasich’s decision to sell the facility to private prison operator CCA (the former employer of Kasich’s Corrections Director) was an amazingly bad idea.

Privatization of the facility under Corrections Corporation of America has lead to serious violations, safety issues for inmates and employees, an increase in drug use and crime in and around the prison and a dramatic increase in calls to local law enforcement. We’ve discussed the big problems again and again here at Plunderbund.

According to the key findings of the latest inspection:

Inmate-on-inmate assaults increased by 187.5% from 2010 to 2012

Inmate-on-staff assaults increased by 305.9% for the same time period

Fights increased by more than 40% from 2011 to 2012

Disturbances doubled in comparison to prior years

Between 2010 and 2012 total uses of force increased by 24.1% and Use of chemical agents increased by 127.3%.

In the prior six months, 6.7% of inmates tested positive which is higher than the DRC average

An inmate recently died from a suspected overdose of an illegal substance (heroin)

It’s time for the Kasich administration to finally admit that their prison privatization experiment has been a failure. Privatization has put the prison staff and the local community at risk. It is time to return LECI to state control.