Thursday, April 29, 2010 2:55 AM
BY ALAN JOHNSON
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

An inmate in a state prison was hospitalized and needed emergency surgery to remove a hot-sauce bottle he apparently had used as a sex device.

Taxpayers will end up paying the prisoner's medical bills, expected to run into the thousands of dollars.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction won't release the name of the inmate, citing federal regulations regarding the privacy of medical records.

However, a report by the State Highway Patrol, which initially investigated the incident as a rape case, said an inmate at the Noble Correctional Facility in Caldwell was taken to Marietta General Hospital on Sunday evening after saying he had been sexually assaulted in the shower by another prisoner.

The injured inmate later acknowledged that he had not been assaulted, but on his own had inserted the hot-sauce bottle anally, sources said.

"At this point, we don't believe there was a perpetrator involved in the incident," said prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn.

However, sources said, surgery was required to remove the bottle. The inmate was hospitalized and was treated in the intensive-care unit.

Walburn said the state won't know the total cost until all medical bills are submitted.

State officials frequently point out that the state is required by law to provide medical care for prisoners - even those who harm themselves. The state is self-insured and pays its own bills.

ajohnson@dispatch.com