In early May, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) introduced a pilot program in two state prisons to permit the use of Tasers. One day after launching, ODRC Director Annette Chambers-Smith asked Ohio lawmakers for the funds to expand Tasers to all prisons.
At the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, a nonprofit law firm, we fight for equal justice and fair treatment in all stages of incarceration. We believe fast-tracking Tasers into Ohio’s prisons is a poor policy decision that will waste tax dollars and make our prisons more dangerous, not safer for incarcerated people and corrections officers.
We also don’t know how much Tasers will cost taxpayers in Ohio, and that should concern us, too…