COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio residents will soon receive mobile emergency alerts when felony offenders escape from correctional facilities, under a new law signed by Gov. Mike DeWine.
DeWine signed House Bill 23 on Dec. 1, establishing the Escaped Convict Alert System. The legislation passed unanimously in both the House, in June, and the Senate, in October.
Under the law, law enforcement agencies will be able to issue regional alerts in the area surrounding a jail or prison when an inmate escapes. The alert will only be triggered if the individual has been convicted of, indicted for, or pleaded guilty to a felony offense. Escapes from community-based correctional facilities, such as halfway houses, are excluded from the system.
The notifications will be sent through the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which delivers geographically targeted public safety messages to most modern cellphones. The same system is used for Amber Alerts, severe weather warnings, and national emergencies.
Television and radio stations may also choose to broadcast escaped convict alerts. The law specifies that broadcasters cannot be held liable for damages or losses resulting from sharing or failing to share the alert.
State Rep. Bill Roemer, R-Richfield, introduced the bill alongside Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Township, in January. Roemer said the legislation was prompted by an incident in which a friend informed him of an inmate escape near his home. The friend had received the information through Nixle, a third-party alert system.
“It was a terrifying realization – that critical, time-sensitive information about a public danger was available, but inaccessible to those who hadn’t opted into a specific third-party notification system,” Roemer said during an October hearing. “It raises the question: How many others are left in the dark during similar emergencies?”
No opposition was voiced during the bill’s hearings at the Statehouse. Law enforcement officials and former state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, who helped create Ohio’s Amber Alert system, supported the bill.
“This bill is an important step in keeping Ohio’s communities safe by closing the communication gap and ensuring that when a dangerous felon escapes custody, Ohioans are not left unaware and unprotected,” Coughlin said in written testimony.
Ohio does not maintain a centralized dataset on prison escapes. In May, four inmates escaped from a Franklin County correctional facility. All were later recaptured.
Roemer introduced a similar bill in October 2024, but it did not receive a hearing before the legislative session ended. Indiana and Oklahoma have enacted similar alert systems for escaped inmates.