Chillicothe Correction Institution, or CCI, is a state-run medium security

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

on the west bank of the

Scioto River The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...

just outside Chillicothe, Ohio. It is located adjacent to Ross Correctional Institution and

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is a United States national historical park with earthworks and burial mounds from the Hopewell culture, indigenous peoples who flourished from about 200 BC to AD 500. The park is composed of six separate ...

. The prison is a former military camp, named for Civil War general

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...

. It later became a federal penitentiary and has housed several high-profile prisoners including Charles Manson in 1952, bootlegger and future NASCAR driver

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became ...

, and serial killer

Anthony Sowell Anthony Edward Sowell (August 19, 1959 – February 8, 2021) was an American serial killer and rapist known as the Cleveland Strangler. He was convicted in 2011 of murdering 11 women whose bodies were discovered at his Cleveland, Ohio, home in ...

. Country music legend

Johnny Paycheck Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003) was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song " Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greate ...

also served a 22-month stint in CCI for shooting a man in a Hillsboro Ohio bar. During Paycheck's time there his friend and fellow musician

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

performed for the inmates.

Composition

The prison lies in Scioto Township.

Death row relocation

On October 3, 2011, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections announced that the majority of Ohio's male death row would be relocated to CCI from the

Ohio State Penitentiary The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) is a 502-inmate capacity supermax Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prison in Youngstown, Ohio. Throughout the last two centuries, there have been two institutions with the name Ohio Penitent ...

(OSP) in

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...

and

Mansfield Correctional Institution Mansfield Correctional Institution (MANCI) is an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction mixed-security state prison for men, located at 1150 North Main Street in Mansfield, Ohio, adjacent to the property of the historic Ohio State Refor ...

in Mansfield, with some high security death row cells being maintained at OSP and inmates with medical issues being held at the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. This was done to free up cells at OSP and Mansfield to be used to separate violent inmates from the general population as well as the increased security and reduced costs of transporting condemned inmates from CCI to both the

execution chamber An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death r ...

at the

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (commonly referred to as Lucasville) is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2022, the warden is Donald Redwood. The ...

(SOCF) in Lucasville and to the Franklin Medical Center for medical treatment.http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20120127/NEWS01/201270308/CCI-death-row-receives-final-inmates?odyssey=mod, newswell, text, , s The transfer of death row inmates was completed on January 19, 2012.

Notable inmates

Current

* Anthony Cook – Serial killer who along with his brother Nathaniel raped and murdered 9 people between 1973 and 1981. *

Quisi Bryan Quisi Bryan (born October 2, 1970) is an American man convicted of murdering Cleveland police officer Wayne Leon during a traffic stop in 2000. Bryan is on death row in Ohio and is scheduled to be executed on January 7, 2026. Crimes On June 25, ...

– Convicted murderer who killed police officer Wayne Leon in 2000 and was sentenced to death. *

Shawn Grate Shawn Michael Grate (born August 8, 1976) is an American convicted serial killer, Rape, rapist, and former Vagrancy, drifter who murdered five young women from 2006 to September 2016 in and around northern Ohio. Grate was convicted on two counts ...

– Serial killer with 5 known victims. Will be transferred to Lucasville when the execution date is set. *

Anthony Kirkland Anthony Kirkland (born September 13, 1968) is an American serial killer. Between 2006 and 2009, Kirkland murdered two women and two girls in the Cincinnati area, following a 16-year prison term for the 1987 killing of his girlfriend. Early life ...

– Serial killer who strangled, raped and burned the bodies of four females. Will be transferred to Lucasville when the execution date is set. *

Michael Madison Michael Madison (born October 15, 1977) is an American convicted serial killer and sex offender from East Cleveland, Ohio who is known to have committed the murders of at least three women over a nine-month period in 2012 and 2013. He was arreste ...

– Serial killer who raped and strangled three women. Will be transferred to Lucasville when the execution date is set. * Gregory McKnight – Serial killer who murdered two people in 2000. * Austin Myers – Perpetrator of the

murder of Justin Back On January 28, 2014, 18-year-old Justin Michael Back (February 13, 1995 – January 28, 2014) was murdered in Waynesville, Warren County, Ohio. Austin Gregory Myers (born January 4, 1995) and Timothy E. Mosley (born October 11, 1994) were convi ...

. Will be transferred to Lucasville when the execution date is set. * George Skatzes – One of the alleged leaders of the Lucasville prison riot at the

. Will be transferred back to Lucasville when the execution date is set. * James D. Worley – Perpetrator of the

murder of Sierah Joughin Sierah Joughin (February 11, 1996 – July 22, 2016) was an American woman who was abducted and murdered in Delta, Ohio. She disappeared on July 19, 2016, and was found dead three days later. Her assailant, James D. Worley, was convicted and sent ...

. Will be transferred to Lucasville when the execution date is set. *David Lance Bruce – Sentenced to 33 years to Life for the murder of Tawana Beane, Melonie Carr, and Robin Brow

*

William Sapp (serial killer) William Kessler Sapp (born William Kessler Lilly; March 22, 1962) is an American serial killer and rapist who committed the murders of three women and girls in Springfield, Ohio, in 1992 and 1993, the attempted murder of another, and a possible f ...

- Sentenced to death for the murders and rape of 3 girls in Springfield, Ohio.

Former

* Romell Broom – Murderer who kidnapped, raped and strangled a teenage girl. He survived an execution attempt in 2009. Died in 2020. *

Richard Finch (musician) Richard Raymond Finch (born January 23, 1954) is an American songwriter, producer, engineer, and song arranger. He is best known as the co-founder, producer and former bass guitar player of KC and the Sunshine Band. Along with Harry Wayne Casey ...

– He served a 7-year sentence for having sexual contact with multiple teens. * Charles Manson – leader of the Manson Family. *

–

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer and

sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crim ...

. *

– Serial killer who committed 11 murders between 2007 and 2009. Died in 2021.

References

National Park Service information about the prison

Prisons in Ohio Capital punishment in Ohio Buildings and structures in Chillicothe, Ohio 1966 establishments in Ohio {{US-prison-stub