LEAVITTSBURG — Anna Granny and Karen Schmader, two women who worked at the Trumbull Correctional Institution, came back Wednesday to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

The women said working in a prison has similarities to working as a police officer or serving in a military conflict.

“It’s not like a war, but it is us and them. It is a complete separation. It’s not like the boss against the union, it’s a stronger separation, and it’s very important to have each other’s back,” Granny said of prison work.

“Because of that we formed a bond that even now, the retirees get together once a month. The bond is strong. We really are family,” she said.

“Even like family, even if you don’t like each other you take care of each other, Schmader said.

Several people with long ties to the institution spoke from the podium during the 30th anniversary event held in one of the prison buildings.

One was Ed Banks, chief of staff at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, who began his career in the prison system at TCI in 1994 — two years after it opened.

He said his first months on the job did not convince him that prison work was his calling, especially when a fellow employee confronted him, putting his finger in Banks’ face and warning Banks to never again write a report about misconduct of a fellow employee. The man had Banks confused with someone else.

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” Banks said.

“Twenty-eight years ago when I walked into a prison for the first time, I was scared,” he said. “As I stand here today, I know there are new staff at Trumbull who are also scared.”

He said those people need to know: “They are something big, they are part of a family, that there are staff who are there to support them, and as we face staffing difficulties, I believe it is time we become intentional in reaching out to those folks. Sometimes a simple hello and how can I help you?”

Banks said one of the key principles within the prison system is to “take care of staff.”

He said when he started at TCI in 1994, the facility “was a difficult mission. TCI is a difficult mission today. I have the utmost respect for everybody who works through that front gate.”

He told the retirees who attended the ceremony: “We all remain a part of the TCI family. One team, one purpose is one of our values.”

Banks said wardens who have held the top position at TCI over the years “have went on to greatness in corrections, and I could go on and on, but it is apparent to me that excellence is born at TCI.”

A PRAYERFUL ENDING

He ended his keynote address with a prayer, thanking God for being present “as we celebrate the high moments of TCI … the low moments, the difficult times” and the “comfort during the difficulties over the years.”

The current warden of the prison, Anthony Davis, who has had the job 11 days, said the prison had one escape over its 30 years — in July 1995 when four inmates commandeered a truck and rammed it into a fence and escaped. They were captured about five hours later. The escape was big news.

Another serious matter from 1995 stayed mostly hidden from the public — the death of inmate Marvin Lane on Dec. 14, 1995, at the hands of prison corrections officers who hog-tied the inmate — procedure that was not part of any written prison procedures.

The hog-tying and death took place shortly after Lane attacked a prison sergeant, wrapping his handcuffed arms around the sergeant’s neck, according to a 2007 Vindicator newspaper investigation written after social media commentary started appearing about the incident.

Hog-tying involves restraining a person with their hands and feet behind them. After Lane was hog tied, he was left in a cell and was found a couple minutes later to not be moving, according to a prison investigation. The result was that a policy was written after that banning the practice throughout the prison system. It was found that hog tying was happening in other Ohio prison facilities.

When asked about the challenges at TCI mentioned by speakers during Wednesday’s ceremony, TCI Warden Assistant Glenn Booth said the prison was challenged when it first opened by having inmates who were involved in the 1993 Lucasville prison riot transferred to TCI not long after TCI opened.

Incidents that happened at TCI in its earliest years, such as the Lane matter, “are not the way we do things now,” Booth said. “The people who do not do things right are not here now.”

He said many top Ohio prison officials came through TCI during those challenging years and learned a lot from being here.

About TCI

OPENED: Nov. 19, 1992

GROUNDBREAKING: Oct. 25. 1989

MISSION STATEMENT: The mission of the Trumbull Correctional Institution is to protect Ohio Citizens by effective supervision of adult male offenders in environments that are safe, humane and appropriately secure in a fiscally responsible manner. In partnership with communities, the institution will encourage citizens and staff participation through programming and victim reparation. Through the philosophy of re-entry by way of education, programming and community service, the institution will seek to instill in offenders an improved sense of responsibility and the opportunity to become law-abiding members of society.

SOURCE: Trumbull Correctional Institution