Former Jail Employees Claim Retaliation

KANSAS CITY, Kan.Former Wyandotte County Jail employees claim a jail controversy cost them their jobs.

 Tamara Jefferies, a former jail supervisor, worked for the jail for 10 years and was fired in December.

 Jefferies said she saw deputies abusing inmates on a daily basis, and she said when she reported it, it was covered up or ignored.

 Last spring, Jefferies’ former boss, Wyandotte County Jail Administrator Randal Henderson, claimed he was also wrongly fired for speaking out.

Jefferies also said the jail is overcrowded and serious offenders are sent to a minimum security facility.

 Representatives of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, and the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment, saying it would be in appropriate to do so because the matters were in litigation.

source: http://www.kctv5.com/news/18604774/detail.html

5 ACI guards hurt in attack by inmate

CRANSTON — Five corrections officers were hurt Wednesday in an attack by an out-of-state inmate who had just arrived at the Adult Correctional Institutions’ Intake Service Center, corrections officials said yesterday.

A lieutenant and four officers were hurt badly enough to require hospital treatment, said Dave Mellon, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers. He said the lieutenant needed “multiple stitches” to close wounds he suffered in the attack. Corrections spokeswoman Tracey Z. Poole said the lieutenant and one officer would be off work for an undetermined amount of time.

Federal immigration officials terminate contract with RI detention facility after inmate death

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Federal immigration officials have terminated their contract with a detention facility following an investigation into the death of an inmate, and several members of the local board that oversees the jail have been replaced.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the federal agency notified officials at Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls of the cancellation Thursday.

Lee County Jail Bans Toothbrushes

LEE COUNTY, FL — One Florida jail has banned toothbrushes in an effort to cut down on handmade weapons, or “shivs”.

 

Lee County deputies banned the handheld toothbrushes from jail cells because they can pose a safety concern.

Inmates can sharpen the edges of the handles of traditional toothbrushes and use them as knives.

Earlier this week deputies began swapping out regular toothbrushes for fingertip brushes.

“We’re taking away the ability of an inmate to manufacture a possible weapon in a correctional setting,” said Sergeant David Valez.

Deputies sweep cells everyday looking for contraband and say this is just the first step in reducing crime in jail.

source: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=128638&provider=rss

Ontario’s correctional officers say they’re ready to strike in weeks

TORONTO – Ontario’s correctional officers are bracing for a potential strike, and if it ends up being anything like the 51-day labour dispute of 2002, life inside the province’s jails could become exceedingly ugly in a few weeks.

 

The workers provide an essential service and can’t walk off the job entirely, but the last time the Ontario Public Service Employees Union went on strike, staffing levels in the corrections system were minimal and chaos was common.

Layoffs at WA Department of Corrections

OLYMPIA, Wash– With the economic downturn, Governor Gregoire has had to make some budget cuts. Some of those cuts include the Department of Corrections.

On Friday the D.O.C. confirmed they will be making some layoffs. KNDU talked to the Deputy Director of the Department. He says besides budget cuts they did a case load forecast.  They found that the number of offenders is going down. Now that means less offenders will be filling beds in Washington State Prisons.

Prison inmate charged with attempted murder

A 47 year-old man has been charged with the attempted murder of a prisoner at Rimutaka.

Detective Grant Mumby said the alleged stabbing happened on Boxing Day at the prison after an argument.

Rell Says Connecticut Can’t Afford Prison Guards’ Pay Raises

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell called Thursday for the Democrat-controlled legislature to overturn an arbitration award for unionized prison guards that she says is unaffordable.

The award provides a 3 percent general wage increase in the first year that for some workers could be as high as 6.5 percent because of annual increments and lump-sum payments. The base wage increases would be 2.5 percent in each of the next two years, plus step increases and lump-sum payments.

Sexual Assaults on Female Inmates Went Unheeded

 First of five parts.

    For years, rights groups warned that male guards were sexually assaulting female inmates in Michigan prisons. For years, those warnings went unheeded. Now, state taxpayers may pay a price too. More than 500 women are suing. They stand to collect $50 million so far, with more trials to come. This is their story.

    Toni Bunton heard the guard coming down the hallway. He wore cheap cologne, and his breath smelled like cigarettes.

    He scuffed his boots against the floor and opened the door to her cell in Scott Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Plymouth Township.

    ”Come here,” he ordered.

Prisoner pulls out eye, eats it

Houston – A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities he ate it.

Andre Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts also had been ripped out. He was convicted and condemned for the infant’s death.

Inmate convicted of attacking Fayette prison counselor

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — A man serving a life sentence for an eastern Pennsylvania murder has also been convicted and sentenced for attacking a counselor with a razor at a prison in Fayette County.

A Fayette jury took just 90 minutes to convict 31-year-old David Harris in the attack on Crystal Gallagher at the State Correctional Institution-Fayette on Dec. 21, 2007.

The jury was deadlocked on an attempted homicide charge but convicted Mr. Harris of aggravated assault and other charges yesterday. Judge Gerald Solomon immediately sentenced Mr. Harris to 42 to 126 years in prison.

Ms. Gallagher says her three young children didn’t recognize her immediately after the attack.

Mr. Harris was already serving time for a murder in Schuylkill County. He didn’t argue or ask any questions during the one-day trial.

source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09008/940418-100.stm?cmpid=latest.xml

Baker County Corrections Officer Back at Work after Inmate Attack

 

SANDERSON, FL — Florida Department of Corrections officials say a female Corrections Officer is back at work after being attacked by an inmate.

DOC Spokesperson Gretl Plessinger says the attack happened around four p.m. Monday, in the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson.

Corrections chief rejects furloughs, citing jail safety

Metro Corrections officers won’t be required to take unpaid furlough days to help offset Louisville’s budget deficit, prompting complaints and a possible legal challenge from unions whose members are being furloughed.

Corrections Director Mark Bolton said today that he decided he could not allow his 400 employees to take furlough days and still run the city’s jail safely.

Fla. corrections officer dies after punch to face

HARTFORD, Ala. — A Florida corrections officer has died after being punched in the face at a football party at his home in southeast Alabama.

Hartford Police Chief Ben Berry said Timothy Fowler, 52, had held an Alabama football party on Friday and a fight broke out during a card game. Berry said Fowler apparently swung a flashlight at another man, who then punched Fowler’s face in the front yard.

Fowler died early Saturday. An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death. Berry said alcohol may have been a factor and no charges were filed. About six people attended the party in Hartford.

Officials said Fowler, who had 14 years in the Florida Department of Corrections, most recently worked as a sergeant in the Northwest Florida Reception Center in Washington County, a state processing or evaluation center.

source

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090106/BREAKINGNEWS/90106008/1086/rss07

Prisoners Giving Me a Good Laugh

Prison Reality Show
I know that people’s rights are violated everyday. We see it in the paper, online and the newspapers. Crimes against the basic rights are taken very seriously and are important to set straight in order to protect it from
happening to others. That being said, I think what I watched on television earlier tonight was darn near comical. I was watching a documentary about the realities of being a prisoner in a state prison.

Shot Rings Out in Ohio Jail Cell

A woman was taken into custody after police said a gun that she allegedly brought into the Ross County Jail discharged while she was in a holding cell.

Victoria Lundy, 41, of Cleveland, was taken to the jail after police reports indicated she was being questioned for possibly firing shots on Warner Avenue on Sunday evening.

Lundy was taken into custody for driving with a suspended license. Officers later found that she had a gun on her after the .25 caliber pistol went off in a holding cell, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.

According to police reports, another woman in the cell said that Lundy used the bathroom several times and when Lundy sat on the bench, the gun went off.

While checking the gun, an officer observed “it had off white-colored liquid substance on the gun with red specks. It appeared to be consistent with vaginal fluid,” according to police reports.

No one was injured in the shooting, the newspaper reported.

Lundy was also charged with improperly discharging a weapon, illegal conveyance of a weapon and carrying a concealed weapon.

She later admitted to the shooting on Warner Avenue, the newspaper reported.
source
http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Shot-Rings-Out-in-Ohio-Jail-Cell/1$28352

Idaho inmates break windows, start fire at medium-security Boise prison

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — More than 100 inmates broke control-room windows, overturned furniture and started a small fire in a temporary housing block at a medium-security state prison.
The disturbance at the 34-year-old Idaho State Correctional Institution began before midnight Friday and was under control by about 1 a.m. Saturday, the Idaho Department of Correction said.

Jail staff sacked for crime past

TWELVE members of staff have been sacked from the new Addiewell Prison in West Lothian after bosses reportedly discovered they had criminal records.

The staff at the £65 million prison were hired before background checks were complete but Disclosure Scotland has now revealed their previous offences – a month after the jail opened.

A spokeswoman for the jail’s operators said: “These staff had no access to keys at Addiewell.”
source: http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Jail-staff-sacked-for-crime.4841087.jp

N. Texas Jail Closed, 60 Inmates Moved Out

Three weeks after an FBI raid, a North Texas jail has been closed and its nearly 60 inmates transferred as authorities investigate what they call dangerous conditions for jailers and those behind bars, reports CBS station KTVT-TV in Dallas.

Montague County Sheriff Paul Cunningham moved the inmates to the nearby Wise County Jail on Thursday morning a few hours after he was sworn in as the new sheriff just after midnight.

FBI inquiry closes Texas prison

FORT WORTH, Texas — A jail in northern Texas has been closed and its nearly 60 inmates transferred as authorities investigate what they call dangerous conditions for jailers and those behind bars — including cells that locked from the inside or contained recliners.

Five inmates had already been moved from the Montague County jail to one in a nearby county this month after an FBI raid, said Jack McGaughey, district attorney for Montague, Clay and Archer counties.