Briefs

• In Oklahoma, a CO from the Tulsa Jail — which is managed by Corrections Corporation of America — has been fired after being arrested on armed robbery charges. Daniel Tidwell had been employed by CCA since January 2002. According to the Tulsa World, the robbery occurred May 9 at a cellular-phone store. Tidwell is accused of pulling out a handgun and telling a store clerk to give him cash from the register. This is not the first incident that draws into question CCA’s hiring practices. Last year, a former jail supervisor was charged with second-degree rape of a female inmate. The employee, who had served 17 years for murder, had been working at CCA facilities since his release from prison in 1992. Also in 2002, jail staff erroneously released two inmates in less than a week. Federal authorities wanted one on handgun possession charges. Law enforcement officials from Osage County sought the other on an assault-with-a-dangerous-weapon charge.

• Maryland officials are trying to end a contract with the Florida-based privateer Correctional Services Corporation. CSC operates the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School, a juvenile detention center housing boys ages 14 to 17, in Baltimore County, which at one time was a state facility with state employees. This year alone, more than 20 cases of suspected child abuse and neglect have occurred at the facility. Staffers are accused of having sex with youths and of bringing alcohol and pornographic materials into the center.

• AFSCME officials in Iowa are blaming understaffing for the beating of a CO by an inmate. Officer Colleen Strong, a member of Local 525 (Council 61), was on duty in the Clarinda Correctional Facility when she was knocked unconscious and later transported to a hospital by ambulance. Said Local 525 Pres. Todd Williams to The Des Moines Register: "We are continually telling everybody that there are problems here, but we can’t get our legislators or management to be aware of how dangerous it is getting to be. ... We are going to be pulling a body out of here someday." Because of budget constraints, the state corrections department has lost 500 positions in the last two years.