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RIBCO
Articles of Interest
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2007-01-15
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State Lawmaker: 7 Federal Prison Guards Injured |
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(AP) DENVER Seven correctional officers at the U.S. Penitentiary Florence have been injured in less than a week in disturbances with inmates, an indication that staffing levels at the federal prison complex west of Pueblo are dangerously low, a state lawmaker said Thursday.
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, and union officials representing correctional officers have alleged that funding problems have left nearby Supermax unable to staff all the posts needed to fulfill its mission of guarding America's most feared and notorious criminals.
McFadyen said staffing changes at Supermax may have come at the expense of the penitentiary.
"I don't think we received new staff, I think we received reallocated staff," McFadyen said.
A message left after business hours for Bureau of Prisons officials in Washington was not immediately returned.
McFadyen could not immediately provide details of the disturbances but said she hoped to have more information at a news conference with union leaders at the Capitol Friday afternoon.
"I'm very worried about what's happening there," McFadyen said. "Whatever is happening there is probably an indicator across the bureau."
In October, an arbitrator in concluded that staffing levels at Supermax fell short of reducing correctional officers' inherent job hazards to their lowest levels. Supermax
Supermax, nicknamed "The Alcatraz of the Rockies," is the nation's most secure prison, reserved for the worst of the worst. Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid and Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols are housed there.
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