Reports: Escalating violence, staff shortages continue to plague Ohio’s youth prisons

Ohio’s youth prisons continue to struggle with staffing. One in five jobs are vacant and large numbers of employees left last year, inspections found

Nearly a year after publication of an investigation into Ohio’s youth prisons, new inspection reports show escalating violence and chronic staff shortages continue to hinder the state’s ability to protect its employees and teens in the system.

The Correctional Institution Inspection Committee, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and its professional staff, released reports this month on Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility in Massillon and Circleville JCF south of Columbus. In both reports, the committee said the Ohio Department of Youth Services failed to provide some of the requested data.

Special report: Ohio’s juvenile detention system struggles with violence, neglect

Here are the key takeaways from the reports:

• Hours kids spend locked in their rooms increased in 2024 over 2023.
• The rate of violent acts each week increased slightly at Circleville and jumped 31% at Indian River in 2024 over 2023.
• Staff are physically restraining youths at both prisons more often this year than last.
• Employee vacancy rates are high, 21.5% at Circleville and 22.2% at Indian River, including open positions and people on leave.
• Employee churn is high, 58.6% of workers left Circleville and 44.1% left Indian River in 2023.
• Gangs continue to exert influence with more than half of kids joining a gang.

Employees described low workplace morale, driven by mandatory overtime shifts every week and assaults by teens who throw bodily fluids − urine, feces and semen − on them. At Indian River, kids no longer have access to water bottles.

Incarcerated teens described frustration at being locked in their rooms with nothing to do. At Indian River the rate of children being locked in their rooms due to staffing issues increased 40% in 2024 over 2023. At Circleville the rate increased 77%.

An eight-month investigation by the Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, Canton Repository and other USA TODAY Network outlets published in November detailed how staff shortages, mandatory overtime and escalating violence plagued the youth criminal justice system.

The investigation is a finalist for the prestigious Scripps Howard Journalism Award for Local/Regional Investigative Reporting.

The investigation uncovered that employees and kids are injured − sometimes seriously − in fights and assaults that erupt without warning. Guards struggle to keep order and are often dealing with children they cannot control. Within three years of leaving a state youth prison, four in 10 teens are incarcerated again in either the juvenile or adult system. And those who don’t return to prison face a higher likelihood of dying an early death.

The youth prisons are operated by the Ohio Department of Youth Services, which reports to the governor, while most local juvenile detention centers are run by juvenile court judges.

Just days after publication of the newspapers’ investigation, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine launched a task force to examine the Department of Youth Services and the state’s juvenile justice system. The task force made 26 recommendations, including closing the youth prisons and replacing them with smaller, closer-to-home facilities.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.