When elections are fair, the PEOPLE win. - OCSEA

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Despite pronouncements by lawmakers and the Kasich administration that sentencing reform would help alleviate Ohio’s understaffed and overcrowded prisons, the union recently released figures showing that the staffing levels in Ohio’s prisons have, in fact, gotten worse. At a press conference outside of the Toledo Correctional Institution, the union unveiled a new billboard regarding the connection between staffing and prison violence. Two billboards, one in Toledo and one in the Mansfield area ask Ohioans to call Governor Kasich and ask him to take action regarding understaffing. While the number of inmates in the state prisons reduced by just over 2 percent, the number of Correction Officers over the same period was reduced at a much higher rate – a staggering 5 percent – something OCSEA warned lawmakers last year not to do. “We hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but we told you so,” said OCSEA President Christopher Mabe, a 20-year DR&C employee. “This union supported sentencing reform last year because we wanted relief for our Correction Officers and we wanted safer prisons. But we said it then, and we are saying today, not at the expense of cutting security staff,” said Mabe. “We've seen over the past year that when staff are cut, security is weakened.” ~ OCSEA Pres. Christopher Mabe “Today, Ohio’s prisons are worse off than they were before sentencing reform,” said Mabe. “Cutting staff undermined one of the goals of sentencing reform: to deal with our understaffing.” More than 325 Correction Officers have been cut statewide this year. At the ToCI, staffing levels on some shifts are much worse than the statewide average. In fact, on second shift, the facility runs 25 percent short most nights, causing employees to work mandatory overtime, according to Randy Deeble, a Toledo Correction Officer and union president of that facility. “Excessive overtime is as dangerous as short staffing,” said Deeble, “Even though it’s against policy, we have some officers who are mandated to work 3 to 4 days of back-to-back overtime, 16 hours a day.” Injured CO Dennis Cowell spoke to injuries he sustained while working the “chow line” in the Toledo prison cafeteria. Cowell lost several teeth and is plagued by health issues due to a head injury caused by an inmate. “Sentencing reform is not a magic bullet. We’ve seen over the past year that when staff are cut, security is weakened. OCSEA is calling on lawmakers and this administration to proactively address our staffing levels now, before it’s too late,” said Mabe. (Above) TV stations in Toledo covered the launch of OCSEA's billboard on prison staffing and violence. (Left) OCSEA leaders hold a press conference and rally near the prison to talk about increased violence at ToCI. 14 Public Employee Quarterly Fall 2012
OCSEA leader speaks out against rising violence in DYS OCSEA member supporters from the Toledo area come out for a press event to launch a new billboard on prison violence. A major staff assault at Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility in September 2012 is just the latest in a series of assaults at the increasingly violent youth prison in Delaware County. This one was followed by the very public announcement that the superintendent of the facility would be stepping down. Juvenile Correction Officer Jody Dawson was assaulted by three youth, resulting in a broken nose, several stitches in the face as well as bruising. After the attack, OCSEA Chap. Pres. Karl Wilkins told the Columbus Dispatch, “At this moment, we would say that it appears pretty violent.” Wilkins is right, of course. According to the Dispatch, violence at the prison has increased more than 23 percent from 2010 to 2011, with 166 youth-on-youth assaults and 188 youth-on-staff assaults being documented in 2011 alone. The number of Department of Youth Service facilities has been reduced by more than half, leaving the youth that remain in state juvenile facilities among the most violent in the system. Fall 2012 Public Employee Quarterly 15
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When elections are fair, the PEOPLE win. - OCSEA

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