April 24, 2020 -- Frontline workers from the Department of Correction spoke out Friday to call attention to the agency’s failure to protect workers and inmates in Connecticut prisons.
The “Public Safety Caravan” rallied outside DOC headquarters in Wethersfield and issued five demands from a diverse group of Union members calling for state action to protect workers, inmates, and our communities from the rapid spread of novel coronavirus inside prisons. Nearly 600 DOC staff and inmates have tested positive for the virus so far. Union members from SEIU 1199NE, AFSCME Council 4 and CSEA jointly requested that DOC take swift and decisive action to implement these five demands, which are provided below.
“As workers on the front lines, we best understand the struggles of being in these facilities day in and day out,” commented Kelly Schafer, clinical social worker at Carl Robinson CI. “DOC management doesn’t know what it’s like being in these facilities on a daily basis. People are scared for their lives. We came together as a union to offer solutions that would keep everyone safer and make the situation more bearable, but management is either refusing them or aren't moving quickly enough to be effective.”
Workers’ and inmates’ lives will remain at risk while we continue to wait for a proper and comprehensive response from DOC to this epidemic.
“We have members going in every day putting themselves and their families at risk. The state must do better to protect us! The key to that is PPE, testing for all, and reducing the number of staff coming in and out to weekend/skeleton levels. If the state doesn't do these things, it is failing us and needlessly putting our lives at greater risk,” said Millie Brown, president of the Corrections Supervisor Council, CSEA/SEIU Local 2001.
“As a mom, I can tell you that the fear of bringing the virus home to our families is huge. Having an adequate supply of proper personal protective equipment is a big concern for everyone. The inmates and staff both have fears, so interpersonal communication skills are becoming more important than ever. We need more tools and better protocols to protect staff, inmates and our communities,” said Sherine Bailey, a correction officer at Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield, and member of AFSCME Local 391.
“My job as a social worker involves providing parenting services to inmates and their families. These services include outside volunteers and inmate families who come to the prison for various programs. Due to the concern of the coronavirus spreading, most of what I do has been suspended. Group sessions with inmates do not allow for physical distancing. It does not make sense to put social workers and inmates at risk by having us work at the prison when most of my job functions have been suspended. The other parts of my job that I am still doing can be done remotely, for example, program planning. My fellow social workers and I are proud of our work. We simply want to do what makes sense for everyone’s health and safety which is minimizing exposure within the facility,” said Laura Dawson, a state social worker at York Correctional Institution in Niantic and union steward for AFSCME Local 2663.
“Clerical workers are coming into work like everyone else at our facilities. We are completely unprotected, because we lack the proper PPE needed to do our jobs safely. The agency has us undergo temperature checks before we enter the building. Not only are the readings consistently inaccurate, the person administering the test was not wearing a mask or gloves. We don’t need a false sense of security. We need the agency to cease all mandated clerical work to be done at the facilities during this pandemic. Allowing us to work from the safety of our homes is the best way to fully protect us and our communities,” said Tammy Stewart, a secretary at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, CT and a steward for AFSCME Local 610.
The five demands are:
- Quarantine all symptomatic cases and ensure proper PPE and safety protocols are followed for all exposed, suspected, or symptomatic cases
- Distribute PPE immediately, including N95-grade masks and other equipment to all staff
- Coordinate movement of inmates between or within facilities with frontline medical and custodial staff to assure proper safety protocols are followed
- Follow the Governor's directives to allow staff to work from home to the greatest degree possible, requiring staff presence at the job site only for essential work during this crisis
- Immediately move members in the following classifications to rotating or other emergency staffing schedules to minimize contagion in facilities: mental health staff, mental health providers, social workers, and clerical staff.
- Remove all non-hazardous duty staff from facilities and allow them to telecommute.
