| One day after the death of an inmate
at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield,
state Senator John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, today said that
he is concerned about the safety of correction officers
at the state’s high security prisons. Sen. Kissel
said the incident, believed to be isolated, illustrates
the dangers of the state’s prisons.
“What took place at MacDougall-Walker yesterday
is very concerning to me. If an inmate wants to do harm
to another inmate or god forbid one of our prison guards,
this incident shows just how quickly it can happen,”
said Sen. Kissel. “From all accounts this assault
took place in a matter of seconds, so it really emphasizes
the difficult and dangerous working environment in which
our correction officers have to deal with.”
Sen. Kissel said the incident sends a clear message
regarding the need for additional correction officers.
He said he was disappointed that by not acting on a
budget during the legislative session (which ended last
Wednesday), the state had an opportunity to add an additional
125 correction officers to the state’s prisons
system. In fact, Sen. Kissel offered amendments on the
floor of the Senate to increase the prison guard ranks
which were defeated essentially along party line votes.
“Proper corrections staffing should be a priority
going forward,” said Sen. Kissel. “Incidents
such as what happened yesterday cannot and will not
be tolerated. We need to make sure that our correctional
facilities are secure and safe, and that means giving
our prison officials the necessary tools and manpower
to do their jobs.”
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