On Christmas day, Corrections Officer Andrew Lansing volunteered to work overtime. He wanted the staff with young families to be with their children.
An inmate, described as “pure evil” sought out Officer Lansing and brutally attacked him in an unlocked guard shack.
Officer Lansing did not go home after his shift.
“Lansing was pure, and good and solid,” ODRC Director Annette Chambers-Smith said Friday. “He trained new staff. He was professional. He always had a ready smile.”
“The loss of a staff person is difficult, but to lose a family member on Christmas Day at the hands of someone in our custody is a tragedy beyond comprehension,” Chambers-Smith said in a statement posted on the department’s Facebook page. “Instead of going home after his shift to be with his family on this holiday, Officer Lansing made the ultimate sacrifice, and our agency will never be the same.”
Mike Lansing said his brother was known as “fair and firm” inside the prison. To his friends and family, “he was a great guy who’d do anything for anybody.”
Mike Lansing said family members were able to say their goodbyes to Andrew at the Adena Medical Center in Chillicothe before he was transferred to Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University. He said his brother died on route to OSU.
Andrew Lansing started his career with a brief stint at Marion Correctional Institution from Dec. 1985 to Jan. 1986. He was later hired at Ross Correctional Institute in January 1994 and worked there more than 13 years until February 2007.
He left the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and joined MPRI International Services LTD, a private military contractor. During the nearly five years he worked there, Lansing assisted the Iraqi government in developing safe and secure correctional facilities to enhance public safety.
Lansing returned to Ross Correctional Institution in March 2013.
Lansing was also a military veteran, serving from October 1981 to April 1992 with the U.S. Army.
Govenor Mike DeWine ordered flags in Ross County, all state prisons, and the Ohio Statehouse to be lowered in honor of Officer Lansing.
Also surviving are children, Kimberly Mae (Jesse) Cooper, of Seattle, WA and Edward Taklai Lansing, of Chillicothe; brothers, Alan C. (Sharon) Lansing, of Springfield, Michael A. (Karrie) Lansing, of Wellston and David W. Lansing, of Elm Grove; sisters, Maureen F. Lansing, of Chillicothe, Tina L. (Jim) Schmauch, of West Union and Lisa K. (Josef) Newman, of West Union; numerous nieces and nephews including special nieces, Kamilah and Hannaa Mustapha and special nephews, Jamie “Bub” (Erin) Lansing and Josh (Casey) Lansing; special friends, Dan and Deb Wiltshire and John Adkins; and his faithful companions, his dogs, Bob and Orion. He was predeceased by sisters, Juanita Fyffe and Sharon Lansing.