Namir Abdul Mateen, born James Were on January 20, 1957, was serving a prison sentence at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville at the time of the 1993 riot. Like many inmates in the high-security facility, his background prior to incarceration is not widely documented in public records. However, it is known that at some point during his imprisonment, he converted to Islam and adopted the name Namir Abdul Mateen, aligning himself with the Black Muslim community within the prison.

On Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993, 450 inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility launched a riot that would last for eleven days. Overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and religious tensions—especially regarding a mandatory tuberculosis test containing phenol (a chemical forbidden in Islam)—triggered the revolt. The uprising brought together rival gangs, including the Aryan Brotherhood, the Gangster Disciples, and the Black Muslims, in a temporary but powerful alliance.

Namir Abdul Mateen was part of the Muslim inmate group, which took a leadership role in voicing opposition to the TB test and negotiating with prison officials. During the riot, the inmates took several correctional officers hostage. Five inmates suspected of being informants were murdered in the early days, and tensions escalated between the rioters and state officials.

On April 15, 1993, Correctional Officer Robert Vallandingham was killed—strangled as a message to the authorities. Although there were conflicting accounts and limited forensic evidence about who physically committed the murder, prosecutors held multiple inmates responsible under complicity and conspiracy laws, including Mateen.

In 1995, Mateen was convicted of participating in the planning and execution of the officer's death and sentenced to death. He became one of the “Lucasville Five,” the group of inmates charged with leading the riot and held responsible for its most violent outcomes.

Mateen has maintained his innocence and insisted that he was targeted because of his influence among the prison's Muslim population. Legal advocates have raised concerns over the fairness of the trials of the Lucasville Five, particularly pointing to the heavy reliance on informant testimony, conflicting narratives, and the lack of physical evidence.

Namir Abdul Mateen remains on Ohio’s death row at the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) in Youngstown, along with other high-risk inmates involved in the Lucasville riot. While most other condemned inmates have been relocated to the newer death row unit at Ross Correctional Institution as of 2024, Mateen’s high-security classification has kept him at OSP under restrictive conditions.

Though he has largely remained out of the public spotlight compared to some of his co-defendants, his name continues to appear in discussions around the Lucasville Five and critiques of Ohio’s use of capital punishment. Like the others, he has yet to receive a formal execution date.