ACU Update

Inmate attacks on COs are on the rise in Oregon

The number of inmate assaults on corrections employees increased from 101 in 1993 to 161 in 1996, according to Corrections Department figures cited by the Associated Press. Oregon Council 75 blames the increase on rising prison populations and inmate-to-staff ratios....

A panel of experts agrees with Council 31's proposals

for making the Illinois prison system safer and more secure. The panel was assembled by the state DOC and its report is expected to lend impetus to Council 31’s legislation to reduce overcrowding, increase staffing, and prevent drug and gang activity. Since a draft of the report was released in March, labor/management committees have been formed to discuss possible changes in DOC policy....

COs at Maryland's Eastern Correction Institution voted "no confidence" in their warden

this August. The vote came after the officers reported enough metal furniture missing to make up to 150 weapons — and the warden then gave one hour’s notice to the inmate advisory council before locking down and shaking down two of nine housing units. The minimum security facility houses some 3,000 inmates and often has inmate-to-staff ratios of 200-to-1....

New York will soon have 3,150 new maximum security beds

thanks to intensive efforts on the part of Council 82 and its members. With the system crowded to 130 percent of capacity, Council 82 went on the offensive with a statewide radio advertising blitz, a lot of one-to-one lobbying, and editorial board sessions with every major paper in the state. The legislature funded the beds — which include a new special housing unit prison to be built in northern New York — as part of its budget negotiations in early August.