By Mark Reiter and Taylor Dungjen
The Blade
LIMA, Ohio — The escape by three inmates, including the killer of three students in the 2012 Chardon High School shooting rampage, from the Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution drew accusations from union officials about inadequate staffing levels and security problems at the facility.
Christopher Mabe, president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, said officials at the minimum-medium security prison had been warned by unionized correctional officers that an escape had been planned the day before, and the only action taken was to put an inmate in segregation.
“We have some serious concerns about security at this facility and why more was not done after we warned [prison officials] about some major security risks,” he said.
The incident was followed by the escape on Thursday by Thomas ‘TJ’ Lane, who was the Chardon High School shooter, Lindsey Bruce, and Clifford Opperud. All three inmates were apprehended by early Friday. The escape began at 7:38 p.m. Thursday.
Bruce, 33, who is in prison for an aggravated murder conviction, was caught by corrections officers on prison property within 10 minutes after the inmates had scaled a fence. They activated a security alarm and were seen running north.
At 1:20 a.m., a dog unit from the Ohio Highway Patrol’s special response team led troopers to Lane, 19, in a wooded area near the prison. Opperud, 44, was apprehended at 4:20 a.m. after he was found hiding under a boat on a private property, north of Bluelick Road. He was tracked to that location by officers using an infrared camera on a helicopter, authorities said.
JoEllen Smith, the spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the incident on Wednesday cited by the union leader was isolated and unrelated to the break-out by the three inmates.
“The inmate in that incident has nothing to do with the escape that took place,” she said. “Both incidents are under investigation.”
The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association represents about 340 employees at the prison, including 280 corrections officers, as well as employees at all prisons in the state.
Mr. Mabe said the union has repeatedly asked state officials to increase staffing to handle the overcrowded inmate population at the prison. The tier system that the administration put in place to categorize inmates according to their security risks also is an issue, he said.
“They just aren’t focused on security here like they need to be,” said Shawn Gruber, a union board member and Allen Correctional officer. “Our job is to protect our staff, family, friends, and the community, and they’re making our jobs harder.”
Ms. Smith would not talk about staffing levels or security levels assigned to inmates.
Following a campaign event, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald criticized efforts under the Kasich administration to privatize prison services, although he said it’s too soon to know whether that played a role in the escape.
“My thoughts were with the families of the victims,” said Mr. FitzGerald, currently Cuyahoga County executive. “It’s bad enough to go through that kind of traumatic experience — especially the nature of that crime, the completely despicable nature of the person who did it, and the way he handled everything in terms of his prosecution — and to have him even for 15 minutes to be outside the correctional institution, I’m sure, was upsetting.”
Rob Nichols, Gov. John Kasich’s press secretary, said the governor on Friday praised prison officials, the highway patrol, and other law enforcement for their combined efforts to catch the escapees.
“Naturally, we never want to see an incident like this happen, though, so a review of the incident will be conducted,” Mr. Nichols said.
The escape rattled residents near the Lima prison, including soybean farmer Russ Hill, who received a visit from an Allen County sheriff’s deputy who warned him of the escaped inmates.
“The deputy said, ‘Get your gun and lock everything up,’” said Mr. Hill, whose home and farm are across Bluelick Road from the prison.
“If someone comes to your door that’s not wearing a police uniform, let us know right away,” Mr. Hill recalled a deputy saying. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll probably shoot him.’ He said, ‘Well, I didn’t tell you to shoot him.’”
Mr. Hill speculated that Lane, after his prison break, ran through fields, across Bluelick, through the Sugar Creek Church of the Brethren church yard, and into the soybean field.
Amy Roberts, who lives across from the prison on North West Street, said that, although hearing of escapees was scary, she did not feel threatened. Her doors and windows were locked, the police scanner crackled in the background, and, if she needed it, her gun was ready.
The community of Chardon, where Lane shot and killed three students and wounded three others on Feb. 27, 2012, went on high alert after hearing of Lane’s escape.
Chardon Schools officials canceled classes on Friday before learning that the men had been captured, and later elected to keep open the high school and middle school to provide support and counseling to students, staff, or anyone wanting help.
Ellen Ondrey, a spokesman for the district east of Cleveland, said a “tremendous sense of relief was felt” with reports that Lane and the others were in custody.
Ms. Smith said the three inmates were transferred Friday to the Ohio State Penitentiary, a maximum-security facility in Youngstown.
Lane has been in trouble four times since entering prison on March 20, 2013. He was given 10 days in segregation this summer for giving himself a tattoo, said Ricky Seyfang, a prison spokesman. Prison records did not say how Lane got the tattoo.
He also was disciplined on three occasions for refusing cell block work or institutional assignments, he said.
Ms. Smith said Lane had been housed in a “protective custody unit” of the Allen Oakwood Correctional since he entered the facility on June 20, 2013. Bruce and Opperud were assigned to the same unit.
She said Lane was placed in the unit because of the severity of his convictions and threats made against him by other inmates.
The prison system breaks prisoners into five classifications, ranging from Level 1 inmates, who are classified as being less disruptive and suitable for rehabilitation, to Level 5 inmates, who are considered the most dangerous.
Lane and Bruce were classified Level 3, and Opperud was placed at Level 2, Ms. Smith said.
Allen Correctional houses mostly lower-risk Level 1 and Level 2 inmates. Only about 114 of its 1,645 prisoners are considered to be at least Level 3, according to the DRC Web site.
On Feb. 27, 2012, Lane, then 17, was waiting for a bus to take him to an alternative school when he went into Chardon High School’s cafeteria and fired 10 shots at a group of students. Three students were killed, and three others were wounded.
Prosecutor David Joyce said Lane had admitted to taking a 22-caliber pistol and a knife for the attack. He pleaded guilty in 2013 and was given three life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Bruce is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder of 5-year-old Emily Rimel, who disappeared in 2004 from a Columbus-area apartment. He was convicted by a jury in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in 2007 of aggravated murder. A previous jury had convicted Bruce of the girl’s kidnapping.
Opperud, from Carlise, Ohio, is serving a 12-year sentence for convictions of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and kidnapping; a gun specification added three years to his sentence. He was committed to the prison in 2008 through Warren County.