This Day in History By Doug Miller
On September 5, 1997, at approximately 5:00 pm an inmate assigned to Death Row (section DR-4) overpowered a Corrections Officer and obtained the keys to the cell-block. The Corrections Officer escaped and alerted others.
The inmate then opened the cell doors and released 35 other prisoners that were being housed on Death Row. 6 of those inmates were involved in the 1993 Southern Ohio Correctional Institution riot at Lucasville, Ohio.
That riot resulted in the death of 10 inmates and 1 Corrections Officer. The Ohio State Highway Patrol Special Response Team (SRT) along with the Tactical Officers from the Institution (MANCI) ended the takeover at approximately 10:00 pm. Several inmates were seriously injured in the disturbance including Wilford Berry.
Berry was known as “The Volunteer” by the inmates. He had waived all his appeals to be executed and volunteered to be the first person to be executed in Ohio since 1963. It was rumored that the disturbance was an attempt by inmates on Death Row to kill him before the execution could take place. Thus, stopping or slowing down the execution process in Ohio.
Wilford Berry would be executed by lethal injection on February 19, 1999, at 9:31 pm at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Ohio. This opened the door for other executions to take place.
Original source can be found here.
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