ONGOING CRISIS AT NATION’S FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM TO BE DISCUSSED ON AFGE’S RADIO SHOW

 GovLoop social media platform for public workers also to be discussed on “Inside Government”

WASHINGTON—Serious staffing and funding shortfalls and an increase in violence at the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will be discussed this week on the American Federation of Government Employees’ (AFGE) “Inside Government” radio show. The show will air on Friday, May 21 at 10 a.m. ET nationwide on Federal News Radio at www.federalnewsradio.com and 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C., area.

AFGE Council of Prison Locals President Bryan Lowry will address the circumstances around a recent assault at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, which resulted in injuries to four correctional officers and prompted the Los Angeles Police Department to provide assistance outside the facility. Lowry also will discuss the critical staffing and funding shortages at BOP, which he says have left the agency with a 5:1 inmate-to-staff ratio, significantly higher than the 3.7:1 ratio in 1997.

GovLoop Founder and President Steve Ressler then will provide an inside look at the social media platform, which he describes as a cross between Facebook and LinkedIn for government workers. Ressler also will shed light on GovLoop’s charitable causes, his passion for public service, and ideas for making government work better. For more information on how to join GovLoop, please visit www.govloop.com.

“Inside Government” is hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow. Programs are archived on the Federal News Radio website and can be heard on demand at www.federalnewsradio.com or www.insidegovernmentradio.org. The program also is available via iTunes podcast by clicking here.

For instructions on how to listen to “Inside Government,” click here.

For more information, please visit www.insidegovernmentradio.org or www.federalnewsradio.com.

Twitter: @afgeradioshow I Facebook: AFGE Inside Government I Web: www.insidegovernmentradio.org I iTunes

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“Inside Government” is a one-hour weekly nationwide radio/Internet program dedicated to issues that impact federal and D.C. government employees. The show airs each Friday at 10 a.m. on Federal News Radio 1500 AM in Washington, D.C. and online at www.federalnewsradio.com. It is also available to 70 million iPod users through Apple’s iTunes podcast. "Inside Government" is produced by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the nation’s largest federal employee union, representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

Dear AFGE Council 33 Union Members,

The National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations has recommended the following Guiding Principles for Labor and Management Forums established under E.O. 13522:

ONGOING CRISIS AT NATION’S FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM TO BE DISCUSSED ON AFGE’S RADIO SHOW

 GovLoop social media platform for public workers also to be discussed on “Inside Government”

WASHINGTON—Serious staffing and funding shortfalls and an increase in violence at the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) will be discussed this week on the American Federation of Government Employees’ (AFGE) “Inside Government” radio show. The show will air on Friday, May 21 at 10 a.m. ET nationwide on Federal News Radio at www.federalnewsradio.com and 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C., area.

AFGE Council of Prison Locals President Bryan Lowry will address the circumstances around a recent assault at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, which resulted in injuries to four correctional officers and prompted the Los Angeles Police Department to provide assistance outside the facility. Lowry also will discuss the critical staffing and funding shortages at BOP, which he says have left the agency with a 5:1 inmate-to-staff ratio, significantly higher than the 3.7:1 ratio in 1997.

GovLoop Founder and President Steve Ressler then will provide an inside look at the social media platform, which he describes as a cross between Facebook and LinkedIn for government workers. Ressler also will shed light on GovLoop’s charitable causes, his passion for public service, and ideas for making government work better. For more information on how to join GovLoop, please visit www.govloop.com.

“Inside Government” is hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow. Programs are archived on the Federal News Radio website and can be heard on demand at www.federalnewsradio.com or www.insidegovernmentradio.org. The program also is available via iTunes podcast by clicking here.

For instructions on how to listen to “Inside Government,” click here.

For more information, please visit www.insidegovernmentradio.org or www.federalnewsradio.com.

Subject: LATEST BOP ASSAULT INJURES FOUR CORRECTIONAL STAFF, VALIDATES NEED FOR MORE RESOURCES, PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

WASHINGTON—A recent outbreak of violence at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles has led the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and its Council of Prison Locals (CPL) to once again request immediate action from the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to correct the dangerous situation of understaffed and underfunded federal prisons. According to reports, a brawl involving 10 inmates broke out May 5 at about 7 p.m. and left four correctional staff injured and in need of hospital treatment. Los Angeles police officers were sent to the scene to maintain order outside the facility, which serves as a holding location for men and women charged with federal crimes.

"This incident indicates a clear need for more staffing," said Bryan Lowry, president of the CPL, which represents federal correctional employees nationwide in 115 BOP facilities. "The LAPD shouldn’t have to divert its resources to a BOP facility. We should have enough correctional staff to manage these situations."

"This type of violence, while alarming, happens repeatedly in federal prisons across the country – most recently at facilities in Forrest City, Ark., Oakdale, La., Beckley, W.Va., and several similarly situated facilities," Lowry continued. "Management continues to turn a blind eye toward dangerous situations that put correctional officers, inmates, and the surrounding communities at risk, while categorizing each instance as an isolated incident. The union believes this is management’s attempt to lessen the seriousness of each occurrence."

In recent months, members of the Council of Prison Locals have testified on Capitol Hill regarding the dangers of working in understaffed and underfunded federal prisons. The union has repeatedly asked for additional staff and the proper use of appropriated funds to ensure the safety and security of the nation’s federal prison system.

Specifically, CPL wants BOP to:

· Fully staff and fund its prisons – Right now the inmate-to-staff ratio is 150:1 on most correctional assignments and too often can be as high as 300:1. Correctional officers are unarmed inside the facility.

· Responsibly issue stab-resistant vests to correctional officers – Assaults on officers with homemade weapons have spiked in recent years.

· Issue pepper spray to correctional staff – This less lethal weaponry would provide correctional officers the ability to protect themselves when violent outbreaks occur, and more easily restore order to the facility.

· Continue the Federal Prison Industries (FPI) program – FPI announced it would eliminate factories at 14 facilities and downsize operations at four additional locations throughout the country – a move that union officials say could lead to potential violence at facilities with hundreds of idle inmates.

The FPI prison inmate work program is an important management tool that federal correctional officers and staff use to deal with the huge increase in the BOP prison inmate population. It helps keep 21,836 prison inmates – or about 17% of the eligible inmate population – productively occupied in labor-intensive activities, thereby reducing inmate idleness and the violence associated with that idleness. It also provides strong incentives to encourage good inmate behavior, as those who want to work in FPI factories must maintain a record of good behavior and must have completed high school or be making steady progress toward a General Education Degree (GED).

"The days of ‘doing more with less’ must end," added Lowry. "If management continues to operate the BOP under its current conditions – understaffed, overcrowded, and with an increasingly violent inmate population – more tragic incidents such as the murder of Jose Rivera are sure to follow."

For more information on assaults throughout the BOP, go to www.cpl33.info.

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Guantanamo Detainee’s : Timing is Everything

A lot of media attention has recently been focused on the Guantanamo Detainee Issue. Most of the emphasis has been related to whether these detainee’s should be held on foreign soil or in America. The debate and battle between our legislators as well as the media on this issue has at times been very heated! I personally do not view their sideshow political antics as a platform or debate that we, the Council of Prison Locals should engage into.

Many times this type of issue swings over to the Union spectrum on a request from a Legislator to a Union in order to add support to their opinion in their state in order to try an garner favorable public opinion towards their specific initiative, which sometimes only effects their state and constituents in which they represent. Not our mission or membership as a whole.

As Bureau of Prison employee’s it is our duty and service to ensure we protect society by confining offenders in a controlled environment in our prisons that are safe, humane, and appropriately secure.

I believe that our staff in the Bureau of Prisons can handle any mission that they are duly authorized to perform by the Attorney General which are provided by Law and Departmental Regulation.

As a Union our position is simple. It is a known fact that assault rates on staff are increasing at a greater rate then anytime ever in the history of the Bureau of Prisons. It is a known fact that our prison population institution to institution Bureau-Wide is over its individual rated capacity then anytime ever in the recorded history of the Bureau of Prisons. It is a known fact that our staff to inmate ratio’s has declined to the most current alarming rate experienced in the Bureau of Prisons which has greatly diminished our ability to provide maximum supervision to our inmate population, lower the inherent hazards of our employee’s safety when performing their duties, and maintaining public safety!

It is a fact that our Federal Prison System is underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded. The risk that have been taken no matter who is responsible for the dire situation we, the employee’s, find ourselves in on a daily basis, needs to be immediately corrected before another employee plays the ultimate price of life or is seriously injured due to inaction to implement sound funding strategies.

Before our legislators and/or administrator’s on all levels of government make a decision to take on a new mission, it is incumbent upon them to responsibly and pro-actively examine our current underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded state of affairs.

I solicit each and every union member to pro-actively call your legislator’s office today and let them know that we cannot continue to operate safe prisons without increased staffing levels to meet the needs of supervising an ever increasing inmate population. United we can get our voice heard!

PLEASE CALL YOUR MEMBER CONGRESS TODAY!

111th Congress,
Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 224-3121

In Unity!

Bryan Lowry

President, Council of Prison Locals 33

American Federation of Government Employee’s

AFL/CIO