Ohio man held 55 days in prison dry cell says it was 'like a dog cage'
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The man held by state prison officials in a cell with no toilet or water for 55 days described the experience as torture that left him with lasting mental scars.
For weeks at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, James E. Harris, Jr. said state employees called him names, such as Stinky, refused to give him a toothbrush or allow him to wash his hands or take a shower, took away his blanket and forced him to sleep on the concrete floor.
“I felt depressed, I felt down, I felt like killing myself. I felt hopeless," said Harris, 37, of Toledo.
At night, mice and bugs would invade the cramped cell, which he described as "like a dog cage, like a kennel," he said.
Why did the prison keep him in a dry cell?
In June 2022, Harris told guards that he had swallowed 50 batteries in a suicide attempt. Subsequent medical scans discovered he had swallowed about two dozen batteries.
Harris spent 12 days on constant watch in the prison infirmary in a cell without running water. He was then moved to another "dry cell" for 43 more days.
Dry cells lack toilets or sinks or water is turned off. Typically, they're used for up to seven days to observe someone passing contraband, such as a balloon packed with drugs, that they've swallowed.
Staff provided a portable toilet in the cell at Harris' request and watched for him to defecate the batteries.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Annette Chambers-Smith said of Harris' mistreatment: "This is just not how we should be operating. This is a big organization. It's never going to be perfect, but we can definitely do better than this."
55 days in a dry cell: Lasting impacts
Harris said his body still aches from sleeping on the concrete and he is tormented by the mental scars.
"I still hear voices in my head. I still hear the corrections officers laughing at me and making fun of me," he said. "I don't trust nobody now, not even the ones that try to help me. That whole experience messed my head up and still got me thinking crazy. I literally have nightmares of dying in that dry cell and they still hurt me to this day."
Harris is critical of the quality of mental health treatment provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Since transferring out of the prison in Lucasville, Harris reported that he has been hospitalized about 10 times for suicide attempts, cutting and other self-harm.
While he is now housed in a mental health unit at Madison Correctional Institution, Harris said he receives medication but very little counseling or other help.
"The bare minimum," Harris said. "You don't get real treatment in here."
Harris and his older sister, Edwina Cotton, of Cincinnati, are both fearful that Harris will eventually complete a suicide inside prison. "If I don’t get the right treatment, that’s what I’m scared of," he said.
Cotton said she is her brother's next-of-kin but the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction withheld information about his mistreatment.
"They make it very difficult for the loved ones to find out what’s going on," she said. "They gave me the round around. It’s a way to − give us the run around − and make us give up."
What's next?
Harris contacted an Ohio law firm that specializes in civil rights cases and is hoping to sue the state.
Harris said his goals are to win money that he'd like to use on his criminal case, get the state to fire people who mistreated him and see a policy change to prohibit the use of dry cells.
Harris has served 17 years of a 25-years to life criminal sentence for murder and robbery.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio man held in prison dry cell for 55 days describes experience
