Section 753.31 | Access by prisoners to exercise equipment or participation in fighting skills programs.
(A) As used in this section:
(1) "Free weight exercise equipment" means any equipment or device that is designed to increase the muscle mass and physical strength of the person using it. "Free weight exercise equipment" includes, but is not limited to, barbells, dumbbells, weight plates, and similar free weight-type equipment and other devices that the department of rehabilitation and correction, in rules adopted under section 5120.423 of the Revised Code, designates as enabling a person to increase muscle mass and physical strength.
(2) "Fixed weight exercise equipment" means any equipment, machine, or device that is not designed primarily to increase muscle mass and physical strength but rather to keep a person in relatively good physical condition. "Fixed weight exercise equipment" includes, but is not limited to, weight machines that utilize weight plates, tension bands, or similar devices that provide weight training resistance like universal and nautilus equipment. "Fixed weight exercise equipment" includes machines that are usually assembled as a unit, are not readily dismantled, and have been specifically modified for prison use so as to make them secure and immobile.
(3) "Municipal correctional officer" means a person who is employed by a municipal corporation as an employee or officer of a municipal jail, municipal workhouse, minimum security jail, joint city and county workhouse, municipal-county correctional center, multicounty-municipal correctional center, municipal-county jail or workhouse, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse.
(4) A person is "employed by a municipal corporation" if the person is employed by, or receives any compensation or benefits from, any official, officer, office, agency, board, commission, department, or other entity that is a branch of municipal government, that is established by a municipal corporation, or that serves a municipal corporation, including, but not limited to, a chief law enforcement officer of a municipal corporation.
(5) "Multicounty-municipal" has the same meaning as in section 307.93 of the Revised Code.
(B) No municipal correctional officer shall do any of the following:
(1) Provide a prisoner access to free weight or fixed weight exercise equipment;
(2) Allow a prisoner to provide or receive instruction in boxing, wrestling, karate, judo, or another form of martial arts, or any other program that the department of rehabilitation and correction, in rules adopted under section 5120.423 of the Revised Code, designates as enabling a person to improve fighting skills.
(C) Nothing in this section prohibits a municipal correctional officer from allowing a prisoner to participate in jogging, basketball, stationary exercise bicycling, supervised calisthenics, or other physical activities that are not designed to increase muscle mass and physical strength or improve fighting skills.
Available Versions of this Section
- March 17, 1998 – House Bill 293 - 122nd General Assembly [ View March 17, 1998 Version ]