For Immediate Release
January 8, 2018

Collin Provost, a state correctional officer and President of AFSCME Local 391, issued this comment on the escape of Jerry Mercado, an inmate at Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield:

"We believe yesterday’s unfortunate events were preventable through proactive planning."

"The State has reduced staffing levels over the last several years, leaving the safety and security of the facilities and their respective communities vulnerable."

"Connecticut's correctional unions have expressed our concern to the Malloy administration that reductions in staffing levels is a dangerous gamble on felons not seizing opportunities to create unrest in our prisons and our neighborhoods."

"We have a collective responsibility to open the community's eyes to the threats we face. Increasing staffing levels to the levels each facility maintained prior to the last two reductions in 2015 and 2011, respectively, will dramatically reduce the ability of incarcerated populations to assault staff, each other or escape and endanger the community." 

"Let this be a wake-up call to restore staffing, and improve safety and security in our prisons."

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