Prisoner Killed During Softball Game - Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A recreation director at an Ohio prison threatened inmates with a loss of privileges if they stopped a softball game during a storm in which lightning killed one prisoner and injured several others, according to two inmate lawsuits.

Scott Tomlison, activity therapist at Chillicothe Correctional Institution in southern Ohio, told prisoners they would lose recreational activities for six months if they didn't keep playing during the June 2005 storm, according to a lawsuit filed in the Ohio Court of Claims.

Former inmate Barrel Brown says he and several other prisoners asked Tomlison to stop the game on June 29 on an outdoor field as part of an inmate softball league. The fields are inside the prison walls at the facility about 50 miles south of Columbus.

"Tomlison refused to call off the game and ordered the inmates to continue playing," said Brown's June 27 lawsuit, which said he was seriously injured by the lightning strike.

A similar lawsuit, filed last year in federal court, says Tomlison forced inmates to play despite the lightning and despite the fact another game had been called off.

Eddie Mack says he and other inmates asked the game be called fearing the storm would "cause injuries to players," according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 6, 2006, in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Mack, in a lawsuit he filed himself, says he had pain, spasms and tingling throughout his body.

Tomlison declined to comment. Prisons spokeswoman Andrea Dean said the agency does not discuss pending litigation. She said Tomlison was not disciplined "because he didn't do anything wrong."

The attorney general's office is reviewing Brown's lawsuit. In the lawsuit filed by Mack, the state said it did nothing wrong and the lawsuit should be dismissed, according to documents filed with U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley. Read the Article Here