Corrections

AFSCME Corrections United --We're 62,000 corrections officers and 23,000 corrections employees who've joined forces in AFSCME to fight for better pay and benefits, for safe workplaces, and to uphold the standard of professionalism in our field. ACU members are men and women working all across the country, in both maximum- and minimum-security facilities, state prisons and county jails. ACU has a proven record of accomplishments on the federal, state and local levels, and at the bargaining table – fighting to improve the pay and working conditions of all COs and corrections employees.

AFSCME Corrections United Online Network

Join your brothers and sisters in the AFSCME Corrections United Network. We’ll discuss shared concerns, learn about what’s going on around the country and exchange information and ideas.

What's Hot

Waupun correctional officer earns national recognition
Correctional Sergeant Dan Meehan of the Waupun Correctional Institution has been named the national Correctional Officer of the Year by AFSCME International in Washington, D.C. Meehan has been employed as a correctional officer for more than two decades. During his tenure, the Waupun man has mentored hundreds of young officers beginning their career in the dangerous but rewarding field of corrections...As president of AFSCME Council 18 at WCI, Meehan has helped to negotiate his membership through a historic state budget battle this year. ... Nationwide, AFSCME represents 67,000 corrections officers and 23,000 corrections employees.
Tennessee: Murderer “accidentally” released from CCA prison
An inmate convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison has been released, but it wasn't on purpose. Edgar Bailey Jr., 35, of Alpharetta, Ga., is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 Most Wanted List after a clerical error allowed Bailey to leave the Wayne County facility where he was being held, said Dorinda Carter, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction. Carter said Bailey was "inadvertently released" from South Central Correctional Facility, a Corrections Corporation of America prison in Clifton, Tenn., on April 22. Authorities were notified of his absence on Thursday.
Scrutiny for a Bush Judicial Nominee
Political connections, though, may not be enough to get Gus Puryear IV a lifetime post as a federal district judge in Tennessee. Puryear recently confronted tough questions about his conduct, experience and potential conflicts of interest from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which must approve him before a full Senate vote. Now, a former CCA manager tells TIME that Puryear oversaw a reporting system in which accounts of major, sometimes violent prison disturbances and other significant events were often masked or minimized in accounts provided to government agencies with oversight over prison contracts. Also see MTV video on Puryear: http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A11400170098DC7C/
A Call to Action on Wisconsin's "John Doe" Law
Under Wisconsin's "John Doe" law, anyone who believes a crime has been committed may go to a judge to ask for an investigation of the complaint. Inmates have discovered that they can use this law to harass correctional officers...The failure of Republicans and Democrats to deliver bipartisan compromise on John Doe reform up to this point could result in more John Doe complaints filed against correctional staff. The three AFSCME councils in Wisconsin are putting pressure on legislators to deliver a bill that fixes the John Doe statute. In a recent related action, AFSCME Council 40 convention delegates passed the hat and donated $790 to help defray significant legal expenses incurred by state correctional officers falsely accused of abuse under the "John Doe" law.
Everyone agrees: Chaotic youth prison needs help
... The home to 294 of Ohio's oldest and worst juvenile offenders is out of control amid violent assaults, gang activity and a shortage of guards, critics suggest. The numbers last year -- 316 youth-on-youth assaults and 188 youth-on-staff assaults -- escalated by a third from 2006. ... Outnumbered, overworked and undertrained juvenile-correctional officers are afraid of the "boys." Half of those confined are adults doing time for violent crime...The unionized juvenile-correctional officers, represented by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, think they are being made scapegoats and are beginning to suffer from administrators' "hands-off" policy toward youth.
State tries to hold back files of guards
More than 18 months after Corrections Officer David McGuinn was fatally stabbed, corrupt activities behind the walls of a Jessup prison that led veteran officers to call it the "House of Corruption" are complicating the state's efforts to send two inmates to the death chamber for the crime...Patrick Moran, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 92, said the union's members don't like corruption any more than administrators. "No one has an interest in seeing that type of person in the workplace," Moran said.
Closed prison costly to fix / State panel unlikely to back renovation
Further dimming the possibility of easing the state's crowded prisons, a new report says that repairing and renovating the closed Lima Correctional Institution would cost the state $184 million.
State runs out of money to fix prison vehicles
The state prison system has apparently run out of money to make routine repairs to its fleet of vehicles....Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said not repairing vehicles could create safety problems for prison workers. "Here we have another example of the department not having funds to pay for maintenance of their vehicles," Lindall.
States adopt Missouri youth justice model
As states grapple with spiraling prison costs and reports of abuse in juvenile lock-ups, many are trying to recreate a successful Missouri program that boasts one of the lowest repeat-offender rates in the country....In the last three years, lawmakers and other officials from at least 30 states have visited the Missouri facilities, and several are taking steps to adopt the system.
Governor wants to open long-shuttered prison
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proposed the state begin opening the maximum security wing of Thomson Correctional Center, which has gone mostly unused since being built in 2001. The long-awaited opening could be coming while the state plans to close part of the maximum-security prison in Stateville at Joliet... A spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said Illinois prisons are already overcrowded, so the idea of closing part of one down could cause a problem.
AFSCME Opposes Nomination of Gus Puryear
AFSCME Letter Opposing the nomination of Gustavus A. Puryear IV for federal judgeship in a U.S. District Court in Tennessee. Mr. Puryear has been the general counsel since 2001 for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit private prison company.