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Corrections chief defends prison vocational program

Vocational programs that allow offenders to handle tools are getting a new look in the wake of a prison guard's beating death. But those program will resume.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Tom Roy says a vocational program at the Stillwater prison will be reassessed after a guard was murdered, but it's too important to end outright.

Roy said the actual welding floor where Officer Joseph Gomm was attacked July 18 will remain closed indefinitely, because it's too difficult for the slain guard's co-workers to return the crime scene and relive those memories. And parts of that particular building may be re-purposed.

But Roy said the vocational education programs, in which inmates are allowed to handle tools, will resume because they're essential to helping offenders return to society.

"We truly believe that those tasks and those opportunities meet our mission, and our mission to make people better," Roy said. "Our mission is to reduce recidivism, which makes the prisons safer in the end."

Gomm died last week of blunt force trauma after what prison officials said was an attack by an inmate. Edward Muhammad Johnson, a 42-year-old inmate serving time for murder, is suspected in the case.

It was the first murder of a guard in the history of the state prison system, and Stillwater remains in lockdown mode.

The union representing Minnesota prison employees has said prisons are understaffed, and state records show assaults on officers have been increasing. But Roy says it's extremely rare for prisoners to use tools against staff members.

AFSCME Council 5, which represents the corrections officers, issued a statement Friday calling safer working environments.

"We have dangerously low numbers of correctional officers, levels that are far worse than the statistics reported by DOC today. This is unacceptable," read the statement signed by John C. Hillyard, the president union's corrections policy committee.

"Officers are not given all the equipment they need to safely do their jobs, and that also must be addressed."

According to staffing figures released Friday by the Dept. of Corrections, the ratio of uniformed staff to inmates varies depending on the mission and security rating of each prison. The ratio ranges from one guard per 5.8 prisoners at Faribault Correctional Facility to one guard per 1.9 inmates at Oak Park Heights, the maximum security prison.

The department's data put the Stillwater prison's staff-to-inmate ratio one uniformed officer per 4.8 inmates. But union members who work in the system say that figure is based on total staff on the payroll, rather than the numbers of guards on duty from day to day, shift to shift.

They assert the uniformed staff is greatly outnumbered once vacation, sick leave and other factors are taken into consideration.

Commissioner Roy detailed many ongoing efforts to make prisons safer, including enhanced Critical Incident Technique training and GPS-enabled panic button devices that track officers' movements. He said the prison system is in the midst of a five-year project to upgrade and expand surveillance cameras, while conceding there were no cameras in the area where Gomm was attacked.

"We are totally committed to our employees. We will not put them in dangerous situations."

But staffing isn't the only safety issue, according the leadership of MAPE, the union that represents 800 support staff in the prison system.

"We're very concerned about the lack of discipline that happens when an offender hurts a staff member," Chet Jorgenson, the state president of MAPE, told KARE.

"Currently they only receive 90 days in segregation, when it used to be a much greater time."

Jorgenson says his members encounter resistance from management when they cite potential dangerous situatiions.

"Yes, we need more corrections officers, we need more staff, but the Department of Corrections has to take safety seriously, they have to listen to their employees, on ways to make their jobs safer,"

Commissioner Roy said many state lawmakers have reached out in the spirit of compassion during the agency's toughest week ever, and have offered to work with him on safety improvements.

Editor's Note: The Associated Press contributed to this story

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