Haunted Ohio: Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville

 

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility - Photo from FunksBrother

The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville is a maximum security prison. Not only was it the scene of a massive riot in the 1990s, but it may also be home to a few ghosts.

Up through the 1960s, the Ohio Penitentiary was the main facility for inmates. As the population grew, the building couldn't keep up. Prison riots were so common the state decided to build a new facility. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility opened in 1972. Though it was built for 1,600 inmates, up to 2,300 or more were housed together at times. It faced many lawsuits through the 70s and 80s from inmates due to poor living conditions, a lack of medical staff, and cruel guards.

The issues all came to a head on April 11, 1993. Members of the Aryan Brotherhood, Gangster Disciples, and Black Muslims staged a massive riot, ironically on Easter Sunday. While the Muslim inmates were unhappy about required TB testing due to the ingredients that were against their beliefs, others were upset about the number of inmates housed together and the poor operations of the facility. In total, more than 400 men rioted.

Once the men took control of the prison, those on the outside attempted to negotiate. The ground leaders talked about possibly killing a corrections officer (CO) to show they were serious about their demands. Before they could make a decision, another inmate took action. An inmate took Officer Robert Vallandingham away from the other hostages and strangled him to death.

The riots lasted for a total of eleven days and only after the prison agreed to go over their list of issues. Nine inmates died during the riots and five men received the death penalty for their role in the incident. Ohio paid more than $4 million to settle a lawsuit with family members of the deceased inmates. All five of the men sentenced to death are still sitting on death row.

While the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is where Ohio executes inmates, the state does not house them there – despite what some might think. Among the executed were Richard Cooey convicted of raping and murdering two women, Wilford Berry Jr. who killed his former employer and waived his appeals rights, and Willie Williams who was a mass murderer. The facility made news in 2009 when Romell Broom suvived his execution. Broom assaulted and killed a teenage girl in 1994. After his ill fated execution, the state delayed the next attempt due to COVID, but he passed away before the new date.

Another infamous resident was James U. Ruppert. Ruppert murdered his mother and ten other family members including some children in an event locals called the Easter Sunday Massacre. Sentenced to death, he stayed at the facility until an illness led the state to move him to the Franklin Medical Center where he passed at the age of eighty-eight. TJ Lane, the man behind three deaths during the 2012 Chardon High School Shooting, also stayed in the prison before being moved.

All of the horror and terror the inmates bring with them may helped the haunting of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. How could a building filled with the worst of the worst be anything other than terrifying? Even just driving by on my way through Lucasville on trips left me feeling unsettled.

Not long after the end of the riots, both guards and inmates began seeing odd things. Cell Block L is home to many apparitions. COs repots seeing shadows that move through the space and disappear when the light hits them. They've also heard cell doors slamming when all doors are either open. A few guards also saw man wearing an inmate jumpsuit and walking through the prison. Furious, he raced toward the man to find out why he wasn't in his cell when the man disappeared.

While you probably don't want to venture inside, you can drive by this prison, which is still in use today. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is at 1724 OH-728 in Lucasville, Ohio.