Ohio State Penitentiary

The Ohio State Penitentiary is a 502-inmate capacity supermax Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prison in Youngstown, Ohio. The facility is designed to hold the state's most dangerous prisoners with poor conduct records.

Throughout the last two centuries, there have been two institutions with the name Ohio Penitentiary or Ohio State Penitentiary; the first prison was in Columbus, Ohio.

Level 5 inmates occupy cells that are 6½ × 11 feet and include a sink, toilet, desk, stool, and a slab of concrete with a thin mattress. These inmates are in lock down for twenty-three hours per day in their cell. Inmates in Levels 5B and 5A are classified as those who fail to adapt or those who are active participants/ring leaders of security threat groups.

Level 4 inmates occupy similarly-designed cells but have additional freedom to move about within specific cell blocks. Inmates classified as Level 4B may also exercise within their specific cell block, but are also required to lock down before security staff enter the cell block to perform range checks, serve food, etc. Inmates classified as Level 4A are not subject to this restriction.

Formerly, the majority of Ohio's death row inmates were held at OSP. In January 2012, the majority of death row inmates were transferred to the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. OSP does retain death row cells for inmates who are considered the highest security risk. As of January 2012, six high security death row inmates remain at OSP.

Ohio State Penitentiary currently holds level 5, 4, 3 and 1 inmates. Level 1 inmates are housed outside of the institutional fence in their own building. Inmates placed in segregation are locked down with the exception of showers.