Corrections
AFSCME Corrections United --We're 62,000 corrections officers and 23,000 corrections employees who've joined forces in AFSCME to fight for better pay and benefits, for safe workplaces, and to uphold the standard of professionalism in our field. ACU members are men and women working all across the country, in both maximum- and minimum-security facilities, state prisons and county jails. ACU has a proven record of accomplishments on the federal, state and local levels, and at the bargaining table – fighting to improve the pay and working conditions of all COs and corrections employees.
Join your brothers and sisters in the AFSCME Corrections United Network. We’ll discuss shared concerns, learn about what’s going on around the country and exchange information and ideas.
Tennessee: Murderer “accidentally” released from CCA prison An inmate convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison has been released, but it wasn't on purpose. Edgar Bailey Jr., 35, of Alpharetta, Ga., is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 Most Wanted List after a clerical error allowed Bailey to leave the Wayne County facility where he was being held, said Dorinda Carter, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction. Carter said Bailey was "inadvertently released" from South Central Correctional Facility, a Corrections Corporation of America prison in Clifton, Tenn., on April 22. Authorities were notified of his absence on Thursday. Scrutiny for a Bush Judicial Nominee Political connections, though, may not be enough to get Gus Puryear IV a lifetime post as a federal district judge in Tennessee. Puryear recently confronted tough questions about his conduct, experience and potential conflicts of interest from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which must approve him before a full Senate vote. Now, a former CCA manager tells TIME that Puryear oversaw a reporting system in which accounts of major, sometimes violent prison disturbances and other significant events were often masked or minimized in accounts provided to government agencies with oversight over prison contracts. Also see MTV video on Puryear: http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A11400170098DC7C/ A Call to Action on Wisconsin's "John Doe" Law Under Wisconsin's "John Doe" law, anyone who believes a crime has been committed may go to a judge to ask for an investigation of the complaint. Inmates have discovered that they can use this law to harass correctional officers...The failure of Republicans and Democrats to deliver bipartisan compromise on John Doe reform up to this point could result in more John Doe complaints filed against correctional staff. The three AFSCME councils in Wisconsin are putting pressure on legislators to deliver a bill that fixes the John Doe statute.
In a recent related action, AFSCME Council 40 convention delegates passed the hat and donated $790 to help defray significant legal expenses incurred by state correctional officers falsely accused of abuse under the "John Doe" law. Everyone agrees: Chaotic youth prison needs help ... The home to 294 of Ohio's oldest and worst juvenile offenders is out of control amid violent assaults, gang activity and a shortage of guards, critics suggest. The numbers last year -- 316 youth-on-youth assaults and 188 youth-on-staff assaults -- escalated by a third from 2006. ... Outnumbered, overworked and undertrained juvenile-correctional officers are afraid of the "boys." Half of those confined are adults doing time for violent crime...The unionized juvenile-correctional officers, represented by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, think they are being made scapegoats and are beginning to suffer from administrators' "hands-off" policy toward youth. State tries to hold back files of guards
More than 18 months after Corrections Officer David McGuinn was fatally stabbed, corrupt activities behind the walls of a Jessup prison that led veteran officers to call it the "House of Corruption" are complicating the state's efforts to send two inmates to the death chamber for the crime...Patrick Moran, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 92, said the union's members don't like corruption any more than administrators. "No one has an interest in seeing that type of person in the workplace," Moran said. State runs out of money to fix prison vehicles The state prison system has apparently run out of money to make routine repairs to its fleet of vehicles....Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said not repairing vehicles could create safety problems for prison workers. "Here we have another example of the department not having funds to pay for maintenance of their vehicles," Lindall. States adopt Missouri youth justice model As states grapple with spiraling prison costs and reports of abuse in juvenile lock-ups, many are trying to recreate a successful Missouri program that boasts one of the lowest repeat-offender rates in the country....In the last three years, lawmakers and other officials from at least 30 states have visited the Missouri facilities, and several are taking steps to adopt the system. Governor wants to open long-shuttered prison Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proposed the state begin opening the maximum security wing of Thomson Correctional Center, which has gone mostly unused since being built in 2001. The long-awaited opening could be coming while the state plans to close part of the maximum-security prison in Stateville at Joliet... A spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said Illinois prisons are already overcrowded, so the idea of closing part of one down could cause a problem. Prison fights prompt Enfield lawmaker to push for funding for more correctional officers Serious fights at two of the state's prisons this week have prompted an Enfield lawmaker to push for funding to get more correctional officers during this year's legislative session..."The fact that they went after the staff is concerning to me," said Jon Pepe, president of Local 391 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents the correctional officers. AFSCME Opposes Nomination of Gus Puryear AFSCME Letter Opposing the nomination of Gustavus A. Puryear IV for federal judgeship in a U.S. District Court in Tennessee. Mr. Puryear has been the general counsel since 2001 for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit private prison company. Corrections officers reach deal with county Northampton County (PA) has a new contract with its corrections officers. The four-year pact stems from a recent binding arbitration award between the county and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, District Council 88, Local 2549. County Council approved the measure Thursday. About 200 corrections officers are covered under the agreement.
Osborn Inmates Sue Over Prison Conditions Adding to the chorus of complaints on overcrowding in the state's prisons, fourteen inmates at Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers have filed a lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions — sleeping on gym floors, clogged toilets and infestation by birds and insects. The inmates even complain that there isn't enough staff to monitor them, a concern echoed by the union representing correction officers. In the majority of Osborn's housing units, one correction officer is responsible for 84 inmates, and in some cases, 120, the inmates allege in their suit. "We need more people on duty," said Jon T. Pepe, the president of local 391 of the AFSCME, Local 391, when asked for comment on the situation. Virginia: More cell phones at GEO prison A surprise shakedown this month at Virginia's only private prison turned up a half-dozen cell phones. Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, could not provide details yesterday but confirmed the phones were discovered during an unannounced search by state officials at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center on Dec. 7...Geo runs the 1,500-inmate, medium-security prison under a five-year, $95 million contract...In March, The Times-Dispatch, using state figures, reported that last year one in five cell phones confiscated in all state prisons were seized at Lawrenceville and that a highly disproportionate number of inmates were caught with drugs there...The study found that in 2006, Lawrenceville inmates tested positive for drugs more than 19 percent of the time, four times the highest rate in six nearby state-run prisons and more than 20 times higher than at the state's Brunswick Correctional Center next door. Ohio: Civigenics privatization hidden costs A ruling requiring Columbiana County commissioners to pay into the retirement plans of five former county jail employees could provide expensive...The OPERS board issued a final order on Nov. 14 saying the five workers were entitled to have the county continue paying into their OPERS while they were employed by CiviGenics Inc., the company now running the county jail.The roots of the dispute extend back to 1997, when commissioners abolished all of the county jail jobs and hired CiviGenics Inc. to take over operations, starting in 1998. The private company hired a number of former jail employees, some of whom are still working there...This would be the second large settlement commissioners would have to pay out because of their decision to privatize county jail operations. In 2002, commissioners agreed to pay $300,000 to former jail employees to resolve outstanding labor complaints arising out of the privatization. Assaults on Texas prison guards increase Assaults on prison guards and staffers have doubled in the last five years, according to an analysis by The Dallas Morning News...Full-time salaries for Texas prison guards start at $23,040 a year and max out at $33,948 -- near the bottom of the scale nationally, prison guard unions and industry experts say. That drives away employees -- and drives up stress and overtime, they say. "These staff shortages, and the pay, they're part of a larger problem," said Brian Olsen, deputy director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 4,000 workers. "This is a dangerous environment and, if you don't have the right resources, it creates obvious, possibly fatal, problems."
Texas: GEO prison closing hearing gets tense Describing a "violent campus" where students requested they be placed in an illegally restrictive solitary confinement out of fear of their safety, the Texas Youth Commission officials staunchly defended the agency's decision to shut down its Coke County facility this month...TYC canceled its month-to-month contract for the Coke County facility with the GEO Group Inc. on Oct. 1, removed the 197 students the following morning, and the facility's 140 employees lost their jobs. The Bronte Independent School District, which lost 40 percent of its student population with the closure, then laid off 21 non-contract employees. Major Legislative Victory! Collective Bargaining Bill Passes the House of Representatives The House of Representatives voted to extend collective bargaining rights to all public safety officers by a vote of 314 to 97. H.R. 980, The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act extends collective bargaining rights to public safety officers who do not currently have the right in their state to engage in collective bargaining. Corrections and law enforcement officers, as well as fire fighters and emergency medical services personnel deserve the right to engage in collective bargaining on the same basis as all private sector workers and the 60% of public workers who have the right to collective bargaining. AFSCME supported this bill because we are confident that it will promote the collaborative process and will improve employer and employees relations in state and local government. Visit the link to see video from the press conference heralding the passage of the bill.
|
|
 |
.gif)
