Short staffing, mandatory overtime plus a drug crisis are a recipe for disaster inside Ohio's prison system, said union leaders at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, Ohio yesterday.
Union prison employees and their supporters held a picket in the morning rain and afternoon sunshine yesterday to protest unsafe working conditions at the state prison where they work. Union Chapter 7330 President Nick Brabson used the phrase “ticking time bomb” to describe how overcrowding, under-staffing and increased inmate drug use is consuming the southern Ohio maximum-security prison.
Violence has been on the rise in the facility and drug use--especially opioid use--has escalated, making the job of Correction Officers more dangerous than ever. At the same time, Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation & Correction managers have dealt with understaffing by end-running the union contract, while mandatory overtime remains a security risk causing officers to become fatigued and less effective.
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Guards Picket Over a What They Say Is a Growing Drug Problem in Ohio Prisons
SOCF officers picket