Bill allows no-bid sale of prison farmland

The state could sell more than 6,900 acres of prison farmland through “negotiated real-estate purchase agreements” rather than competitive bidding or public auctions under the budget bill pending in the Ohio House.

Language permitting an unusual no-bid process for selling nearly 11 square miles of state land is built into the two-year state budget proposed by Gov. John Kasich’s administration.

State assets, including real estate, are typically sold by having interested parties submit sealed bids, with the highest and best bidder winning. That process is still part

of state law.

However, the Kasich administration could deviate from that practice for the disposal of prison land under the little-noticed budget provision. The land sale is being managed by the Department of Administrative Services, the business arm of state government, on behalf of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Administrative Services spokesman Tom Hoyt said the state still plans to sell the prison property through competitive bidding. Hoyt said the alternative is standard in real-estate transactions.

The wording in the budget, which the House is expected to vote on next week, says the agency director “may offer the sale of the real estate to a purchaser or purchasers to be determined, through a negotiated real-estate purchase agreement or agreements. Consideration for conveyance of the real estate shall be at a price and at terms and conditions acceptable to the director of Administrative Services and the director of Rehabilitation and Correction.”

Prisons Director Gary Mohr announced in April 2016 that the state is getting out of the prison-farm business after nearly 150 years, dating to 1868, when farming began at the old Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. Mohr said at the time that farming is no longer in line with the goal of preparing inmates for life after prison. Equally important, Mohr said, is that farms are security risks because people can drop off drugs, tobacco and other contraband to be picked up by inmates and smuggled into the prison when they return.

Auction records obtained previously by The Dispatch from Administrative Services showed the state received nearly $4.5 million from the sale of 3,186 dairy and beef cattle and hundreds of pieces of farm equipment. The most-expensive component, a juice-processing plant, sold for $128,350.

The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, a labor union representing about 30,000 state employees, including prison workers, said in a statement that the proposed no-bid process for selling the land is “troubling.” The union wants it removed from the budget bill.

“The clear pattern of waiving the rules around competitive state bids is troubling,” said union President Chris Mabe.

“Not only are IT (information technology) contracts part of that pattern, it now appears state farmlands could be sold in a back-door deal with zero competition or transparency. For all we know, whoever lobbied to close the farms could walk away with a huge land deal for a fraction of the value. Either way, taxpayers will be the loser here.”

A Dispatch investigation published this month showed that Administrative Services officials awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts, frequently paying more than $200 an hour when analysts said cheaper options were available. The supervisors disregarded the agency’s purchasing policy and sidestepped getting the approval of the Controlling Board. The agency failed to follow its policy requiring that price quotes be obtained from at least three competing suppliers.

The prison land that will be up for sale:

Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution, Lima, 156 acres

Southeastern Correctional Institution, Lancaster, 368 acres

Lorain Correctional Institution, Grafton, 709 acres

London and Madison Institution, London, 1,296 acres

Marion Correctional Institution, Marion, 575 acres

Pickaway Correctional Institution, Orient, 669 acres

Richland Correctional Institution, Mansfield, 336 acres

Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Chillicothe, 137 acres

Southern Ohio Correctional Institution, Lucasville, 1,625 acres

Lebanon and Warren Correctional Institution, Warren, 1,056 acres