Prison Guards Hold Informational Picket
Prison Guards Hold Informational Picket Save Email Print
Posted: 9:10 AM Nov 14, 2008
 Last Updated: 9:10 AM Nov 14, 2008
 Reporter: WSAZ News Staff & WYMT
Email Address: news@wsaz.com
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MARTIN COUNTY, KY (WSAZ)--Federal corrections officers at the Big Sandy Federal Prison are calling for increased safety on the job.

Thursday, a number of union employees held an informational picket out of the prison to talk about the issues they say are putting their lives at risk.

Senior correctional officer James McCarty says patrolling prison cells like these are a far cry from his years as a sheriff's deputy.

“We were well equipped, we were given a weapon, bullet-proof vest, pepper spray,” James McCarty said.

At the Big Sandy Federal prison, the guards say they carry none of those. Union employees also say the prison is overcrowded and understaffed and say they do not feel safe on the job.

In 2006 two inmates were stabbed to death. A December 2007 assault sent four to the hospital. And so far in 2008, officers estimate another 15 assaults.

A prison spokesperson says safety remains the top priority, and employees can expect to have stab-resistant vests in the coming weeks.

“We have adequate staff to do the very difficult job that we have to do. Whatever funding we are provided, we take that and do the best we can,” said Phil Heffington, Bureau of Prison spokesperson.

Bureau of Prisons officials also say guards do have access to less-lethal devices in emergencies, but if guards routinely carried 'less lethal devices' like mace or pepper spray, inmates could easily get a hold of them.
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Posted by: Fed CO on Jan 1, 2009 at 06:48 PM
Posted by: Mushroom on Nov 14, 2008 at 04:41 PM Please tell me you are joking. Do you think a cop on the street in say NYC where he is outnuumbered by approx 1:3,0000 or so could not be overpowered. You idiots should have to apply to have kids so you dont fill the world with more of your kind. If you would ever have to respond to(break up) a knife fight like we do on monthly occasions or greater, would you attempt to disarm the convict with your bare hands? Im going to say you wouldnt, well at this time we have to. We dont have the luxary of waiting for additional help to arrive or we will be sued for allowing the other convict to get stabbed. A can of pepper spray aimed from 15 feet away in order to break up the fight would be much safer than attempting to disarm the convict. People are not asking for a handgun, you idiots all give the same response in that it could be taken away. WE ARE STILL WAITING ON THE VEST TO BE ISSUED THAT WE WERE PROMISED MONTHS AGO.
Posted by: Anonymous on Nov 16, 2008 at 07:36 PM
for the idiot talking about inmate getting abused this is not a regional jail it is a federal institution and inmates are treated very well probably better than they should be but good officers follow policy and at big sandy we have alot of good staff.If you have not worked at a federal prison are been in one you should not try and compare the difference between a regional jail and a federal pennitentary there are big differences.
Posted by: Anonymous on Nov 15, 2008 at 10:57 AM
This is a good paying job and although dangerous I would rather work here than a deep mine. We need more "qualified" people to apply for jobs at the prison. However the pool of applicants locally is shrinking because of criminal records and poor education. The Bureau of Prisons would save money by hiring more officers nation wide rather than paying time and a half to fill vacant positions. Show me a job anywhere that there are not rumors flying, back stabbing, favoritism(real or perceived), and lazy employees and I'll show a dream world. This is a stressful place to work but I don't worry about being laid off as long as I'm doing my job.
Posted by: Anonymous on Nov 14, 2008 at 08:22 PM
These officers have been at risk at Big Sandy for a long time and it's only getting worse. So far the attacks on officers have not been fatal but have been very close to that and because of the very little amount of punishment to the offenders during these attacks, they will never see a reason to stop. I totally agree with the comment about listening to the "OFFICERS" and not the "OFFICIALS" , the officals are not the ones going in the facilty and working hands on with these inmates every day, the officers are. Hopefully this will wake them up to the fact that they are putting their officers in danger every day!
Posted by: Mushroom on Nov 14, 2008 at 04:41 PM
Yet, walking around inside of a prison armed remains shear stupidity, because it is all too easy for a group of inmates to overpower a correctional officer and use their own weapons against them. I am certain that this specific lesson has been taught to the "officials" the hard way.
Posted by: Anonymous on Nov 14, 2008 at 04:23 PM
If these officers are like some in the Regional Jails they are usually the ones dishing out the punishment for not reason. Most are little pip squeaks trying to look macho.
Posted by: I understand on Nov 14, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Listen to what the officers have to say about what's going on. They know way more than the "officials" do.
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The Yell: Comments for the Week of 7/5
  • Posted By: to food for thought: i think you have solved the mystery on m.t.r.obama pay back of the unions.lets see if the so called news investigates this theory.but aren,t news media union too.wont hear any thing from them.left up to the peons and peasants to bring up truth ful news.
  • Posted By: Keith: Anon. it would seem Big Earl is sick of you too. And Food for Thought, great comment, Cecil Roberts is a joke and a sorry excuse for a labor leader he seems to as big a dunce as his buddy Obama. Look at the union under him and figure it out. So hows the hope and change working for everyone? Another half million jobs lost in June. Trace it back folks, the economy went belly up when it bacame apparent the democrat party was going to nominate a radical, ignorant, inexperienced marxist to their ticket. Economists tell us that full employment is considered at an unemployment rate of 4.7%, a year ago unemployment was at 5%. But you all know, Bush was soooo stupid. Look at how the war in Iraq turned out...ooops can't use that one, look at how great the economy is now...oops, can't use that one...well everybody hated us when Bush was in office and now everybody just loooves us and helps us out in the world, well, oops, look at N. Korea, Iran, can't use that one. Some of you really got fooled.
  • Posted By: Bob & Meg: What I want to know is how many times does the water company have to be notified that water is coming up from the street on East Gardner Ave. in Belle? Bugs are getting bad and sometimes it has a sewer smell to it. Get on the ball WVAWC!
  • Posted By: politically correct again: do video on left wing coal protesters,tea party ,a grudgeing few sentences.i wrote a longer anynallyse,but i dont see it,it must have been too much truth for liberal left wing so called reporting.but we do have some truth seeker else where,they,re catching on.....
  • Posted By: jesco: What a disappointment the Ashland Summer Motion was for our children. No focus on the children whatsoever...........The hospitals were the main focus along with the motorcycle show..... very little for the children to enjoy. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!
  • Posted By: Ben Chambers: YOUR DECISION TO SHOW MJ FUNERAL IN PLACE OF DAYS IS VERY POOR AND NOT WELL THOUGHT OUT. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAME. MAYBE A NEW PROGRAM DIRECTOR IS IN ORDER.
  • Posted By: : RE: Worm in Water If you will Google "hair worm", you will be given millions of pages of information concerning the hair worm. There used to be a myth that a horse hair put in water would turn into a worm. From experience, it doesn't work.
  • Posted By: food for thought: WSAZ I ask of you please do a a follow up story of the 6 weeks of rain that we had so some of these people who have forgotten will have some miniscule sense of thereselves to know that ALL THAT RAIN would cause flooding anywhere. Here is another story. Find UMWA president MR. Roberts and ask him why he hasn't come out and had his brothers and sisters to be involved in keeping there MTR jobs.All these people that say Massey is a Union breaking company should be worried in salvaging the jobs they do have. It's not rocket science, UMWA supports Obama, in return Obama may reward them. This may be from left field but believe I am on to something. Isn't it strange the protesters only target Massey. Most of them are led to believe there are NO union jobs in WV. HOW STRANGE!? Here is the hunch I have WV politicians don't like Don B and the Union supports Obama. So sounds like a money trail to me for the hippies. Just a thought, but makes for good reporting. Big Earl lets make the idea reality!
  • Posted By: To Fat Earl: You're losing! Ha,Ha!
  • Posted By: Diane: Buck, I agree. When it comes to kids playing sports (not just in the summer), the parents are CRAZY! They just need to "cut the cord" and allow their children, the refs, and coaches worry about the games. Now if you have a parent who is a coach just watch out...that is a double wammy!
  • Posted By: jbug: i saw on the news this morning obama is in russia and he took the family,people are upset about gov of south carolinia takeing a trip on taxpayers money,witch he agreed to payback, is obama going to pay for his familys plane tickets,hotel bill,food and entertainment or will it us taxpayers.....
  • Posted By: : I for one am sick and tired of reading the same bs that big earl keeps spewing out. All you ever hear is peta, tree huggers, hippies. People who made a difference in this world and who are smart enough to care, should be honored instead of being bashed by some people who have the mentality of the monkeys who they believed they evolved from. also big earl keep on believing that your idol, who you worship and adore so much is smarter than a nasa scientist, apparently you haven't been around any smart people.
  • Posted By: bias obious: if anyone has had a dought about left wing liberal news bias,heres a glaring clue.anti coal party,news,with video.tea party,productive people concerned with socialism,taxed into poverty,a czar run government,etc,no video ,a disintrested report,yawn,yawn,yawn.thankfully we now have an alternative to this liberal bias with conservative talk radio,internet news ,alternate t.v. etc.there is a good article on world net daily about the vietnam war.hollywood was running the war then too.
  • Posted By: buck: why is it w/ summer sports it seems the parents make it all about them instead of the kids. am i wrong or do alot of these parents seem to want to relive life again through the kids. or even worse make a claim to being so good at whatever the sport the parent did that they push the kid all because of what they did 'or never did'. These parents also seem to be the really high ego type person. funny thing is if the parent was so good then why arent they pro or at least a great college player. what i have noticed is the the kids w/ the parent who did play college or was on the verge of being pro does not press the issue. they allow the kids to play ball. just my opinion
  • Posted By: Big Earl: Well hello again good working coal people of WV this is Big Earl and I hope everyone had a nice holiday wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a holiday or one of them permenant vacations from all the tree hugger types and hippies that are barging into our communities uninvited tying to run all our jobs off. Well good people I am calling on those who have the means to do so and you know who you are so lets pony up some cash and have our own protest here in the coal fields to support our coal miners. I seen on this very TV station where the tree huggers held a rally and a cookout with a bunch of Grateful Dead hippie wanttobees singing about the trees and polar bears but we can do one better. We can have it down at the coal festival in Madison people I say invite some real singers who aint got above there raisin like WV adopted son Mr. Charlie Daniels and how about Alabama since they have coal down there to. Invite Gov. Joe and them people from Washington DC that is a good way to find out who is pretending to be a friend of coal and who is really on our side. We could even make Mother Jones bobblehead dolls to give away I for one would like to see her set loose on these tree huggers that have invaded Cabin Creek trying to run off her beloved coal miners. You could pull a string and she would say #** !!##**!! Tree huggers.
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