Publications

ACU Update

 

Local corrections presidents voiced disagreement with the priorities of the Illinois DOC

which requested $5.4 million to install security cameras in its prisons as a deterrent against sexual assault. Local 494 (Council 31) Pres. Danny Jarrett and AFSCME Local 1133 (Council 31) Pres. Renee Bantista told The (Bloomington, Ill.) Pantagraph that additional cameras aren’t among the top needs at their facilities. “We need staff,” says Bantista. “If you don’t have the staff to monitor cameras, the cameras are useless.”...

The Local 1828 (Council 93) bargaining team signed a three-year agreement

with the Androscoggin (Maine) Sheriff Department that includes annual raises of roughly 2.6 percent, 3 percent and 3.7 percent. Local 1828 Pres. Richard Servidio Sr. says: “The members of the negotiating team should be recognized for their diligent work. Mutual respect on both sides was gained — and the professionalism that was displayed was something to brag about.”...

Ohio civil service employees association (OCSEA)/AFSCME Local 11 member Michael Yates spoke up against prison privatization

in a letter to the editor printed in The Columbus Dispatch. A CO at Pickaway Correctional Institution, Yates wrote, “Our elected officials should ask Corrections Corporation [of America] and Wackenhut why, after all these years and experience in other states, they still have a hard time proving that they can operate prisons cheaper and better?”... Over 400 communities in 29 states now participate in

A national automatic notification system that alerts victims of violent crimes to the custody status of their accused attackers

according to The Washington Post. Called VINE (for Victim Information and Notification Everyday), the system also allows victims to access general information about prisoners’ case status and hearing dates. In Kentucky, this system is in place statewide....

Oregon is redesigning its prisons to be lower, greener and more decentralized

and to accommodate each inmate working a 40-hour week, according to the Portland Oregonian. But the state’s hope that such prisons will require fewer staff isn’t echoed by AFSCME Council 75, which notes that staffing levels are currently inadequate and talk of further reducing those levels raises serious concerns....

Lehigh County (PA.) corrections officer bargained a two-year contract with average wage increases of 3 percent each year

and ratified it before the old contract expired. Local 543 (Council 13) members say this is the first time in 20 years they’ve had a contract before the expiration of the old one, and without going to binding arbitration. They’re calling it historic....

Under a new Ohio law, prisoners now must pay $1 to $3 for doctors' visits

undergo mandatory HIV testing, and relinquish their unlimited employment and education furloughs in exchange for “escorted visits” for limited purposes....

AFSCME Local 2498 (Council 13) COs raised $4,200 for the disabled children

of two of their fellow officers at the state prison in Greensburg, Pa. The fundraiser: some 20 supporters auctioned off their heads to be shaved by the highest bidder.... Next time you’re surfing the net,

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