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Ohio Prisoner-Medical-Co-Pay Law Retroactive

Joseph Woods, an Ohio state prisoner, is serving a prison sentence imposed
before 1996. In 1996 Ohio Rev. Code § 5120.021 went into effect, requiring
prisoners requesting medical attention to pay a $3 co-pay. When Woods was
charged the co-pay in 2003, he sued prison officials in state court,
contending that the statute didn't apply to him because he was sentenced
before its inception. In 2005, while this litigation was ongoing, the state
legislature amended Chapter 5120 to indicate that the co-pay applied to all
Ohio prisoners.

Relying on the 2005 amendment, the court found that the plain language of
Chapter 5120 showed it to apply to Woods, regardless when he was sentenced.
The court then dismissed the case on the state's CR 12(b)(6) motion for
failure to state a claim. See: Woods v. Ohio Dept. of Rehab and Correction,
Court of Claims of Ohio No. 2003-08410 (2006).

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Related legal case

Woods v. Ohio Dept. of Rehab and Correction