Briefs

• In Kentucky, nearly 700 former corrections employees could receive a share of more than $14 million in damages as a result of a federal judge's ruling that two executives from U.S. Corrections Corp. violated their obligation to safeguard the company's pension plan. A judge determined that the two created an employee stock-ownership plan to maintain control of the company and purchased securities with the funds without determining their fair-market value. The pension plan borrowed $34.4 million to repurchase two-thirds of the company's outstanding shares. That's just another example of how corporate greed by WorldCom, Enron and other Fortune 500 companies has caused tens of thousands of workers to lose their jobs, their retirement savings and major pension funds. The value of state employee pension funds has decreased by billions of dollars during the current series of scandals.

• In Connecticut, AFSCME members are challenging Department of Corrections officials who apparently are inflating figures for the prison population in order to get funding for more construction projects. Michael Minney, president of Local 391 (Council 4), says the department is burdening high- and medium-security facilities by placing in them too many inmates who don't belong there. The risks for COs, he explains, are high because dangerous inmates are getting bumped to low-security lockups. Other observers agree that department officials want to build more prisons, and overcrowding works to their advantage. Connecticut is trying to add facilities in spite of the fact that many states are repealing strict drug laws and more offenders are being sentenced to alternatives to prison. In 10 years, the operating budget for the Connecticut Department of Corrections has ballooned from $236 million to more than $500 million.

• In the South Bay Correctional Center near Boston, two inmate melees broke out on the morning that 51 corrections officers were scheduled to be laid off. Ten officers were transported from the prison by ambulance after helping to subdue the inmates involved. The most serious injuries were lower back strains and leg wounds. Shortly after the event, CO members from AFSCME Local 419 (Council 93) called for the resignation of Suffolk County Sheriff Richard Rouse. Local Pres. William Dowd told The Boston Herald: "Sheriff Rouse has placed hundreds of lives in jeopardy because he thinks corrections officers are a luxury." After the layoffs took effect, dozens of COs rallied outside the prison to protest.