Could Jeopardize Safety
Correction Unions: Rule Shifts Unwise

By REUVEN BLAU

The unions representing Correction Department officers last week voiced their opposition to proposed changes that are part of the agency's broad plan to update the rules that govern jails and detention centers.

NORMAN SEABROOK: 'Bad for officers' safety.'

The unions objected to the Board of Correction's proposal to amend and in some cases repeal regulations requiring the department to have employees fluent in Spanish available, guidelines specifying how much overtime officers can work, and decreasing the space required to house inmates.

Will State Their Case

Officials from the three unions - the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, the Correction Captains' Association, and the Assistant Deputy Wardens'/Deputy Wardens' Association - are scheduled to testify before the board as this paper hits newsstands on April 17.

Last September, the nine-member board introduced the draft plan designed to amend the Minimum Standards for Correctional Facilities. The department's rules haven't been changed for more than 30 years.

The amendments - which have largely been suggested by DOC Commissioner Martin F. Horn - include allowing the department to monitor inmate phone calls and requiring that they wear uniforms. The correction unions are in favor of those switches, which are designed to better monitor inmates. But they are wary that some of the other proposals may create safety problems.

SID SCHWARTZBAUM: Will hinder supervision.

COBA President Norman Seabrook detailed his concerns in a letter to Board of Correction Executive Director Richard T. Wolf. The letter argued against changing the rules prohibiting an officer from working more than two consecutive shifts and mandating that they be afforded at least 10 hours off before returning to duty after working two tours. "There is a direct correlation between an officer's ability to receive adequate rest between his or her shifts and the safety and security of that officer's facility," the letter said.

'Not Good for Security'

Mr. Seabrook noted that many of those overtime rules were enacted following the jail riots that occurred in the 1980s. "It was determined that Correction Officers were over-worked and the lack of sufficient rest they received between their shifts diminished their alertness and thus impeded their ability to perform their duties at optimal levels," the letter said. "The bottom line is that the proposed repeal of Section 1-03 is not good for the safety and security of the officers and not effective for providing the utmost care, custody, and control of inmates."

Mr. Seabrook said COBA has a "very serious" problem with decreasing the space required for inmates from 60 square feet to 50 per inmate. That plan, he noted, would allow the department to add 10 inmates to each dormitory, which would in turn require one Correction Officer to oversee 120 inmates, up from 100.

Commissioner Horn has told reporters that the move is a cost-cutting measure and has maintained that it will not affect security.

Sidney Schwartzbaum, who represents Deputy Wardens and other supervisors, contended that it was not a good idea. "It is going to hinder the level of supervision and increase the work load," he said. Additional inmates in small areas also add to tensions within the jail and makeshift modular dormitories on Rikers Island, he continued.

Horn: Same As Elsewhere

In defending the plan, Mr. Horn has noted that state prisons and other facilities throughout the country currently use that reduced size standard.

Mr. Seabrook, however, argued that comparison was inaccurate. "For example, in Los Angeles the inmates are locked in all the time," he said. "Correction Officers do not often have contact with inmates and do not enter and move among the inmates in dormitories and Los Angeles does not have contact visits."

Mr. Schwartzbaum stressed that the unions were not objecting to all the drafted changes, noting that he supported the proposal to require inmates to wear standardized uniforms. "I think it reduces violence," he said during a phone interview last week. "It reduces inmates fighting over clothes and sneakers and their ability to fly their gang colors."

COBA suggested that sentenced inmates wear different colors than the other prisoners so that officers can recognize the higher security risks. "This is particularly important in view of other proposed changes which will often permit sentenced and detainee inmates to be housed together," Mr. Seabrook's letter said.

The board is expected to vote on the proposed changes, which have been reviewed by the city's Law Department, sometime after the hearing and public comment session, which is over at the end of May.