NCJ Number
155452
Date Published
1994
Length
83 pages
Annotation
Following the inmate riot in the L-Block of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Ohio, in 1993, the Governor appointed a task force to identify the media lessons learned at Lucasville; this is the final report of the task force.
Abstract
In the initial rioting, more than 400 inmates captured 12 prison guards. The ensuing standoff between inmates and authorities would last for 11 days and became one of the longest prison riots in U.S. history. Almost from the beginning, one of the features of the Lucasville riot was the unusual role played by members of the media. Within hours of the initial rioting, hundreds of journalists came to the prison; more than 2,000 media information requests were received by the Corrections Department during the first 2 days of the crisis. The overarching recommendation of the task force is that it is essential for State officials, starting with the governor, to send a strong message throughout State government that it is the policy of the State to release information in a complete and timely manner during an emergency. The task force found a strong predisposition on the part of State officials, including public information officers, not to release information during the Lucasville emergency, even when there was no operational reason not to release it. The only way to change this mindset, which the task force believes would exist in another, similar emergency today, is for the strongest possible signal from the top of State government and from the directors of each State department and agency.