The Ohio House of Representatives has approved House Bill 338 — known as Andy’s Law — a sweeping criminal-justice reform package inspired by the death of Ross County Correctional Institution (RCI) Officer Andrew Lansing. Lansing, a respected member of the RCI Special Response Team, was brutally killed by an inmate on Christmas Day last year.
The legislation, sponsored by State Reps. Mark Johnson (R-Chillicothe) and Phil Plummer (R-Dayton), aims to better protect correctional employees while cracking down on violent assaults and drug trafficking within Ohio’s prison system.
“This is a great first step to restoring respect to our officers and to reward good behavior within the inmate population,” Johnson said. “We have placed a large focus on getting drugs out of our prisons. It’s hard to rehabilitate an addict.”
Rep. Plummer echoed that message: “This bill will make it very clear that inmates assaulting Corrections Officers will no longer be tolerated.”
Key provisions of House Bill 338 include:
• Life without parole for inmates who murder an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) or Department of Youth Services (DYS) employee
• Mandatory 7-year consecutive sentence for felonious assault on an ODRC or DYS staff member
• Mandatory 3-year sentence for assault involving bodily fluids thrown at staff
• Expanded authority allowing supervisors to detain individuals attempting to smuggle contraband
• Requirement for Level 3 and 4 prisons to deploy drug-sniffing dogs within two years, and all lower-level prisons within five
• Mandatory no-contact visitation in Level 3 and 4 institutions
• Ohio State Highway Patrol training drug-detection K9 teams for corrections facilities
The bill now moves to the Ohio Senate.
“Officer Lansing embodied everything good about this agency,” ODRC said in a statement. “May we continue to carry Andy’s memory forward and remember the legacy he left behind.”
