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O’Malley/Brown Accept the Endorsement of
AFSCME Council 92 Corrections Locals
Unions Represent Over 4,000 Corrections Officers in Maryland Demanding New Leadership; “3 Years of Hell Under Bob Ehrlich”
HAGERSTOWN, MD (September 2, 2006) – Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown proudly accepted the endorsement of AFSCME Council 92 Corrections Locals in Hagerstown, Maryland earlier today. The unions represent over 4,000 public safety corrections officers in the State of Maryland that work in Maryland’s troubled correctional facilities under Bob Ehrlich. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest public employee and health care worker union in the nation.
“I am honored and humbled to have earned the endorsement and support of Maryland’s correctional officers,” said Martin O’Malley. “Together we will make our corrections facilities the safest in the nation – providing our corrections officers with the equipment and resources they need, including adequate staffing levels, enhanced security measures, and stab proof vests, to do their job safely and effectively.”
O’Malley and Brown accepted the endorsement after campaigning for two days in Western Maryland and following a “kitchen table” talk with almost a dozen corrections officers and union officials. During the kitchen table talk, corrections officers spoke of the need for security upgrades at correctional facilities, adequate staffing levels, the need for protective equipment and competitive wages, including pension benefits that have not been provided under the failed leadership of Bob Ehrlich.
Officers also spoke of increased “mandatory” overtime due to staffing shortages that cause many officers to have to work mandatory double shifts, and at times up to 20 hours per day. In addition to providing adequate staffing levels and resources, O’Malley and Brown committed to reinstituting labor management meetings that allow officers to communicate directly with management about their concerns – a practice that was stopped under the Ehrlich Administration.
Ron Bailey, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 92, who participated in the kitchen table talk and the endorsement stated, “Our corrections officers need a state partner in the Governor’s Office everyday, not just in an election year. Under the Ehrlich Administration, we have endured 3 years of hell. Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown understand the needs of our officers, and will work with us to make sure we have the staff and the equipment we need to go to work everyday in a safe environment.”
Though Bob Ehrlich pledged to improve the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services and the Department of Juvenile Services during the 2002 campaign, under Bob Ehrlich Maryland’s correctional facilities have become less safe for corrections officers and prisoners with union leaders crying out over the last three years for adequate staffing and protective equipment. Under Bob Ehrlich’s failed leadership and neglect of Maryland Corrections Officers:
- Maryland correctional institutions have become less safe for prison guards during the Ehrlich administration. Department of Corrections statistics show that the number of inmate assaults on staff has risen to 1.99 per 100 inmates in FY2005 from 1.7 in FY 2002. (Fiscal Year 2007 Operating Budget Detail, Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services)
- An emergency legislative hearing heard charges from nonpartisan legislative analysts that the prison system has been understaffed, and that rising violence has been the result. At the hearing, state analysts presented a report that found that inmate assaults on staff had nearly doubled in the past year, and that staff shortages had worsened at the same time. State officials claimed that the problem was a booming economy which made it hard to recruit, and claimed that recent pay raises have produced many more applicants. (The Baltimore Sun, “Assaults on jail guards doubled,” August 9, 2006; The Baltimore Sun, “Staying the course,” August 9, 2006)
- Two corrections officers have been killed in Maryland prisons since January, equaling the number of inmate murders of officers in the preceding century. Those deaths, as well as a series of incidents at state-run correctional institutions in the last several years, have been blamed on understaffing. (The Baltimore Sun, “Officer said to plead with shooter,” March 21, 2006)
In July 2006, after Jessup guard David McGuinn was stabbed to death by prisoners who had broken out of their cells, officials said that locks in the prison may be faulty and that the prison had 47 guard vacancies. (The Capital, “Prisoners ambush, kill Jessup guard,” July 26, 2006)
- The commissioner of the Division of Corrections resigned amid criticism that “the inmates were largely in control” of the Maryland House of Correction at Jessup. Frank Sizer, a longtime employee of the Division of Corrections, had been commissioner for three years. He resigned abruptly under pressure, and the Baltimore Sun reported that there was “a lax culture of enforcement at some facilities - especially at the House of Correction, which had developed a reputation as a prison where inmates were largely in control.” (The Baltimore Sun, “State prisons chief quits amid criticism: Detractors say he failed to control inmates,” August 24, 2006)
Delegate Anthony Brown, Lt. Governor Candidate, stated, “Bob Ehrlich is very good at making promises two months before elections. But his treatment and neglect of corrections officers over these last four years proves that he’s not very good at keeping them.”