Ohio Lays Off Janitors, Gives Mops to Inmates

The State of Ohio will use prisoners to replace Statehouse janitors and groundskeepers who were laid off.

The Columbus capital building will bring in two inmates for groundskeeping and five for cleaning.

The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the state’s largest public employees’ union, filed a grievance this week. The union said it’s wrong to substitute inmate labor for union jobs.

The Statehouse has lost 17 employees since January due to budget cuts.

Ohio currently uses inmates to garden at the governor’s residence in Bexley.