The Union County Prosecutors Office and grand jury are working to keep local correctional facilities safe.
“When you have a penal institute, they are crowded or sometimes overcrowded,” Phillips said. “You have to be able to maintain control and order.”
Phillips added that corrections officers and other prison staff members have a job to do. When drugs or violence are added to the environment, it makes it difficult, even dangerous for them to do their job.
“When an inmate assaults a corrections officer, or spits at them, or when there are drugs involved, we will prosecute,” Phillips said. “We have to be able to protect these people who are doing their job.”
He added, “Not only do we want to punish the inmate, we want to send a message to the other inmates that they cannot do these things or there will be consequences. If we can deter this type of behavior, hopefully it makes the institution safer for everyone.”
Among those indicted were:
– Codefendants Ashley Ivy and Jamie Evans.
Ivy, 30, and Evans, 69, are each charged with one count of illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto grounds of a specified governmental facility.
On Aug. 9, 2018, Ivy was six months into a three-and-a -half year prison sentence for illegal possession of chemicals and failure to appear for convictions in Scioto County. She was serving her sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Evans, from Portsmouth, came to see Ivy and while the pair were in the prison’s visitation room, she allegedly passed drugs to Ivy.
Phillips said he did not want to talk about “the specific methods” of how Evans got the drugs into the prison, how she passed the drugs to Ivy or how investigators caught the transaction.
“We don’t want to encourage people to use any particular method,” Phillips said, adding that details could impact “security issues and measures.”
He said the would-be drug smugglers have tried “some very inventive methods” to get drugs into the prisons.
“While they are criminals, it doesn’t mean they aren’t creative,” Phillips said.
He added, “but the prison officials have gotten pretty good at finding these things.”
If convicted, Ivy and Evans could each face five years in prison.
– Mona Goodson, 21, who is an inmate at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Goodson is charged with one count of assault. According to court documents, on May 15, corrections officers were attempting to get Goodson to go to her cell. Phillips said Goodson allegedly “grabbed a (corrections officer) and bit her arm.”
Goodson was originally sent to prison in March of 2018 for robbery and assault convictions in Franklin County. While incarcerated, she was convicted of harassment by an inmate in Franklin County.
Additionally, the most recent indictment is at least the seventh time Goodson has been charged criminally for her behavior while at ORW. She has a history that includes throwing urine, spitting, punching, kicking, biting, smearing feces, pinching and throwing things.
“What would ordinarily be a simple assault, when you have an employee at a correctional institution, it becomes a felony,” Phillips said.
Once, Goodson faked a suicide and when an officer went to check on her, she allegedly jumped up, charged the door and hit the corrections officer then allegedly splashed the corrections officer with “some sort of liquid” believed to be urine.
Goodson has been set for release several times but convictions for her conduct in the prison have delayed her freedom date until January of 2021.
– Courtney Mahoney, 22, whose court listed address is the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Mahoney is charged with one count of assault. According to court documents, on May 31, Mahoney hit a corrections officer in the head. It allegedly took two officers to get her under control inside the prison. Mahoney is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for an attempted felonious assault conviction in Lake County. She is scheduled for release next month. If convicted, Mahoney could face an additional five years in prison.
– Dierdre Taylor, 51, whose court listed address is the Ohio Reformatory for Women. Taylor is charged with one count of aggravated possession of drugs.
On Aug. 15, 2018, Taylor was an inmate at the local women’s prison. According to court documents, she was caught with Oxycodone inside the prison.
Phillips said it is believed Taylor got the drugs from another inmate, but it is unclear how the drugs got into the prison in the first place.
If convicted, Taylor could face as many as 12 months in prison.