Cell Curtains Could Have Meant "Curtains" for CO

When a CO approached a curtained cell at Illinois' Pontiac Correctional Center in January, he couldn't see it, but an inmate was ready to stab him with a 7½-inch homemade knife tied to a broomstick.

Officer Shane Edenfield's thick leather belt prevented the weapon's blade from going more than an inch into his abdomen, but both he and his union, AFSCME Council 31, believe that he would not have been injured at all if prison officials prohibited the use of curtains by inmates to close off all view of what is happening inside.

Henry Bayer, executive director of Council 31 and an AFSCME International vice president, warned of the continued practice of allowing inmates to curtain off their cells and said that the practice is done at 66 percent of the state's prisons.

During a press conference earlier this year, Bayer asserted that prison officials are not enforcing existing rules that prohibit curtained cells and prohibited amenities such as microwave and pizza ovens in segregation cells, which are designated as punishment areas.