Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution

Allen Correctional Institution
Location	Lima, Ohio
Security class	mixed security
Capacity	1645
Opened	1994
Managed by	Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Director	Kevin Jones, Warden

The Allen Correctional Institution, also known as the Allen Oakwood Correctional Facility, is a prison located in Lima, Ohio, a facility of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Its most well-known inmate is mass murderer James Ruppert, II, the Hamilton, Ohio resident who killed 11 family members at his mother's house on Easter Sunday in 1975.

History

Allen Correctional Institution was built in 1987 in Allen County, Ohio on a 78-acre (32 ha) site 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Columbus that shared land with the Lima Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison that closed in 2004.

In June 1995, the parole request of 61-year old James Ruppert, II was rejected and he was ordered to serve another 40 years minimum. Ohio had no death penalty at the time of Ruppert's arrest and therefore he cannot be put to death by the correctional system of Ohio.

Hope Taft, wife of Bob Taft who was the Governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007, approached the administration at Pickaway Correctional Institution in 2000 regarding the establishment of a reading room for children who visit the prison. The idea spread statewide and the room has been built in all 32 institutions that comprise the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction including the Allen Correctional Institution. Each room has an inmate narrator who reads to visiting children twice a day.

The prison

The population of the facility is typically around 1,300 male inmates, most of whom are housed under minimum or medium security. A few prisoners are held under close or maximum security. The facility employs roughly 375 staff members of, half of whom are classified as security. The cost of maintaining each inmate at the facility is approximately $62 per day.

Prisoners can participate in programs that will allow them to earn their GED or even a degree from the University of Findlay, located 30 miles (50 km) northeast of the prison. In addition, special classes are offered in power equipment technology, turf management, carpentry, masonry and plumbing.

Court case

In 2004, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case of Michael Bigelow v. Jesse Williams, Warden, in which inmate Bigelow maintained he was innocent of the charges of kidnapping and arson. On June 17, 1993, real estate agent Charlotte Schrier was kidnapped in Toledo, Ohio and asked to drive to a remote location where the assailant cut her with a razor blade before she escaped. She picked Bigelow out of a police lineup, but he maintains he was in Columbus, Ohio all day.

Special programs

Bonds Beyond Bars is a program that allows fathers housed at Allen Correctional Institution to participate in girl scout activities with their daughters in the visiting room on a biweekly basis.

My Child and I is a program that educates inmates on issues regarding family responsibility, relationship building and behavior cycles to promote positive fatherhood.

Angels for Animals is an organization that brings abandoned kittens to Allen Correctional Institution where selected inmates care for the animals 24 hours a day until a home can be found for them. As of 2007, 40 kittens had been brought to the prison.

The Sugar Creek Development Unit (SCDU) is a 60-bed residential facility on the prison grounds that provides psychiatric and psycho-social services for mentally ill inmates. For some, this program is only temporary during their incarceration while for others, the SCDU serves as their living quarters for the duration of their sentence.

The Residential Treatment Unit (RTU) is a special facility that also provides psychiatric assistance for inmates who have difficulty living in the general prison population and are admitted to this program not only from within the Allen Correctional Institution but from other correctional institutions in Ohio as well.

References

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