From the Council of Prison Locals:
Bryan Lowry
President
Voice/Fax: 870-734-3690
Cell Phone: 870-734-7137
Email: [email protected]
I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you a Happy New Year! We have many challenges faces us this year. It's going to take a strong effort and open communication on all of our behalf's in order to accomplish our goals of ensuring a safe and secure work environment. I am asking for your commitment to communicate in order to track and maintain accurate records of incidents of assaults on staff occurring in an institution somewhere everyday, and somedays in multiple locations. Alot of these instances occur or are caused by mission critical staffing, and/or the erosion of our workplaces as a direct result of shared services which is better known as complex consolidations. I am pledging that this Council will not sit idle on these issues, and is working on a stategic plan to expose what the lack of proper funding has done to deteriorate the integrity of our mission. Again, I call on you to communicate, cooperate, and participate in all requested information we will be tracking in order to show true and accurate facts and figures we will use in lobbying Congress, and relaying to the public.
Complex Consolidations
Some of you are facing position consolidations where the Agency has identified you as a so-called Complex Facility. This newly created methodology by the Agency is creating an unsafe environment for staff and inmate alike. In a work environment such as ours which already has a maximized amount of inherent hazards, you cannot rob peter to pay paul without suffering horrendous consequences. With the increases we've seen in the past year regarding assaults on staff, disturbance increases, and number of shots fired to contain life threatening situations it only leads you to wonder how much worse our situation is going to deteriorate before someone in a position of power puts a halt on the gross negligence that is occurring due to the lack of funding we are receiving.
How much is a life worth? To you spouse, to your children, to your parents, and to your good friends it is priceless. We are true Patriots, who day end and day out are proud to serve the public in keeping the nations sentenced felons incarcerated. We are charged with maintaining a safe and secure environment. This task has gotten harder to accomplish because of the staffing level reductions we've all faced. Mission Critical is a farce. It is not working!!! Continued cuts to staffing levels will catch up sooner than later.
Institutions located in a Complex situation trying to share staff positions amongst the institutions is not a sound correctional practice. There should never be any consideration on behalf of Management to share security between institutions. Institutions are their own entity, with their own perimeter fence that should be staffed based on the numbers and security level of inmates housed at that facility. Sharing staff between the entities is a flawed philosophy. You are either properly staffed or you are not. I am going to call it like it is. WE ARE NOT STAFFED IN A SAFE MANNER!!!
President
Voice/Fax: 870-734-3690
Cell Phone: 870-734-7137
Email: [email protected]
I would like to take this opportunity to wish each of you a Happy New Year! We have many challenges faces us this year. It's going to take a strong effort and open communication on all of our behalf's in order to accomplish our goals of ensuring a safe and secure work environment. I am asking for your commitment to communicate in order to track and maintain accurate records of incidents of assaults on staff occurring in an institution somewhere everyday, and somedays in multiple locations. Alot of these instances occur or are caused by mission critical staffing, and/or the erosion of our workplaces as a direct result of shared services which is better known as complex consolidations. I am pledging that this Council will not sit idle on these issues, and is working on a stategic plan to expose what the lack of proper funding has done to deteriorate the integrity of our mission. Again, I call on you to communicate, cooperate, and participate in all requested information we will be tracking in order to show true and accurate facts and figures we will use in lobbying Congress, and relaying to the public.
Complex Consolidations
Some of you are facing position consolidations where the Agency has identified you as a so-called Complex Facility. This newly created methodology by the Agency is creating an unsafe environment for staff and inmate alike. In a work environment such as ours which already has a maximized amount of inherent hazards, you cannot rob peter to pay paul without suffering horrendous consequences. With the increases we've seen in the past year regarding assaults on staff, disturbance increases, and number of shots fired to contain life threatening situations it only leads you to wonder how much worse our situation is going to deteriorate before someone in a position of power puts a halt on the gross negligence that is occurring due to the lack of funding we are receiving.
How much is a life worth? To you spouse, to your children, to your parents, and to your good friends it is priceless. We are true Patriots, who day end and day out are proud to serve the public in keeping the nations sentenced felons incarcerated. We are charged with maintaining a safe and secure environment. This task has gotten harder to accomplish because of the staffing level reductions we've all faced. Mission Critical is a farce. It is not working!!! Continued cuts to staffing levels will catch up sooner than later.
Institutions located in a Complex situation trying to share staff positions amongst the institutions is not a sound correctional practice. There should never be any consideration on behalf of Management to share security between institutions. Institutions are their own entity, with their own perimeter fence that should be staffed based on the numbers and security level of inmates housed at that facility. Sharing staff between the entities is a flawed philosophy. You are either properly staffed or you are not. I am going to call it like it is. WE ARE NOT STAFFED IN A SAFE MANNER!!!
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