Assaults target DOC, DJJ employees
In the past month, three violent attacks against DOC and DJJ employees have resulted in serious injuries and have drawn attention to the overcrowding and staffing issues present at many facilities.
Most recently, on March 23, an inmate at Pontiac CC stabbed three correctional officers with a makeshift knife. The inmate had refused to comply with a requirement to be restrained during a cell inspection and threatened to kill anyone entering the cell. When three officers – members of the prison’s tactical unit – entered the cell, the inmate attacked from under his bed, stabbing the officers below their knees.
The inmate, a convicted murderer, had formerly been incarcerated at Tamms CC, the maximum-security facility once used for the state’s most dangerous criminals. Tamms was closed, over AFSCME’s strong opposition, in late 2012. Since then, its inmates have gone to other DOC facilities which lack the security measures necessary for housing such dangerous individuals.
The attack at Pontiac came less than two days after an outbreak of violence at Illinois Youth Center/ Kewanee. More than a dozen youths, all over the age of 18, kicked out windows in one of the facility’s wings, forcing the lone female officer on the unit to flee her post in fear for her safety.
Staff members were only able to respond with pepper spray after waiting for permission from management. Fortunately, no staff or youths were seriously injured.
At Stateville CC earlier this month, three staff members were taken to the hospital with serious injuries following a disturbance that put the facility under a partial lockdown. The incident began when an officer was attacked by an inmate on the receiving unit.
Several officers were needed to subdue the inmate, who was classified as having a serious mental illness. The first officer assaulted suffered a concussion as well as injuries to his chest and elbow. Two other officers who responded received minor injuries.
The attacks are part of a larger, disturbing trend – in January, AFSCME obtained records showing some 400 violent incidents at Logan CC in the 18 months after it was converted to a woman’s facility.
“These incidents are sobering reminders of the dangers faced daily by the men and women who serve our state in the departments of corrections and juvenile justice,” Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. “AFSCME will continue to advocate for the staff needed to ensure prisons and youth centers are safe and the public is protected.”