Unanimous U.S. Supreme Court Backs Ohio State Prisons’ Anti-Gang Methods

WASHINGTON – In a rare show of unanimity, the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled 9-0 that Ohio did not violate prisoners’ due process rights when it committed them to a super maximum-security facility in Youngstown.

The 500-bed prison, built in 1998, imposes severe restrictions on inmates, including limiting their telephone access, and shackling and strip searching them whenever they leave their cellblocks. Most of its inmates have gang affiliations, or histories of being disruptive or incorrigible.

At issue was inmates' contention that Ohio's procedures for determining who should be placed at the facility violated the Constitution's due process clause. A federal judge, and later a U.S. appeals court, agreed, handing down decisions that required the state to modify its commitment procedures.

But the Supreme Court came down decisively on the side of Ohio, commenting in its opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy that the state had every right to attempt to control prison violence and gang activity by classifying certain prisoners as eligible for commitment to Youngstown.

The court also noted that with the cost of incarcerating a prisoner at Youngstown already at $49,000 per year, the lower courts' mandate to make the commitment process even more costly placed an unfair burden on the state.