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THUMBS UP for Oregon Council 75, for successfully lobbying for a law banning free weights in the state’s corrections system. The 1997 legislation mandates that the DOC replace free weights with weight machines by Jan. 1, 1999. It also requires two line staff in the rec yards during the transition period. Council 75 reports that the overwhelming majority of institutions are in full compliance with the law.

THUMBS UP for Local 3649 (Council 31), which represents the workers at Robinson Correctional Center in south central Illinois. The AFSCME local has rented office space in the same centrally located building as a Machinists’ local, where the unions believe they will strengthen ties to the community and to other unions. “We’re right off the square,” says Local 3649 Pres. Ron Marlow. “The location gives Labor a presence in the community.”

THUMBS DOWN for John Clancy, a former drug counselor who’s making big money by running halfway houses for New Jersey’s prisoners, according to The New York Times. Though state law dictates that such houses be run only by non-profits, Clancy has made an end run around this protection by having his non-profit organization run the halfway houses — and contract all the work out to his for-profit organization.

THUMBS DOWN for James “Pate” Philip, president of the Illinois Senate, who killed a prison reform bill that had bipartisan support. The bill covered virtually all of Council 31’s priorities, including a continued ban on privatization, restrictions on inmate property, and establishment of a gang control unit. Council 31 plans to continue pressing its priorities with the legislature in the next session.

THUMBS UP for Lt. Joseph Wingfield, a Local 1644 executive board member, who received the 1998 Supervisor of the Year award from the Atlanta Department of Corrections in recognition of his “leadership, managerial skills, and significant contributions toward upgrading overall detention operations.” The award honored Wingfield, a 10-year employee at the Atlanta City Detention Center, Annex Division, for his “caring, concerned, loving attitude toward subordinates, co-workers and the community at large” and for being a “dedicated and dependable supervisor who is committed to the cause of public safety, security and departmental unity.”

THUMBS UP for the Jefferson City Post Tribune in Missouri, whose editors responded to a disturbance and lock-down at Algoa Correctional Center with a sympathetic editorial: “Most corrections officers spend their work days ... walking [unarmed] among people who are incarcerated because they committed crimes — many of them crimes of violence. ... Most of us recognize the perils that most law enforcement officers face. ... The corrections officer, who perhaps faces even greater danger, is not so visible as a protector of society. These men and women deserve our respect and our thanks for the risks they take on our behalf every time they go to work.”