Corrections Officers to Describe a Difficult, Stressful Job and Conditions That Lead to Safety Failures and Abuse

22 October 2005

The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons will hold its third public hearing November 1 - 2 in St. Louis, MO. The two-day hearing will focus on corrections officers, their work environment, and conditions that jeopardize the safety of both officers and prisoners. The discussions will provide an up-close look at a vast, yet poorly understood workforce that shoulders tremendous responsibilities, many times without adequate leadership, training or resources.

Officers, administrators, former prisoners, and others will describe their personal experiences inside correctional facilities. Leading experts in the field will testify about problems and solutions nationally.

Key testimony will address:

* Pivotal changes in the workforce and the job of a corrections officer

* The personal toll of functioning under extreme stress

* Training in the use of force

* Problems ranging from under-staffing and compulsory overtime to low pay
and esteem

* How the environment can create and exacerbate violence

* Labor-management relations, dynamics between officers and inmates, and
the 'code of silence' -- why it exists and how to promote greater
openness and accountability

* How stereotypes about corrections officers make it hard to recruit
qualified staff

* Divergent views on professional accreditation and public versus private
facilities

WHO: Line officers, labor leaders, state corrections commissioners,
advocates, national experts, former prisoners, and others.
Members of the Commission, including the co-chairs: former United
States Attorney General Nicholas de B. Katzenbach and the Honorable
John J. Gibbons, former Chief Judge of the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals. For descriptions of the witnesses and panels, visit
http://www.prisoncommission.org and click on Public Hearing 3.

WHEN: Tuesday, November 1, 8:30 am - 3:30 pm & Wednesday, November 2,
8:30 am - 3:30 pm.

WHERE: Washington University School of Law, Anheuser-Busch Hall, Room 310,
St. Louis, Missouri, 63130. Enter Law School near the intersection
of Olympian Way and Forsyth Streets.

The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons is a diverse, 21-
member, non-partisan panel that formed in March 2005 and will work for one
year to explore the most serious problems inside U.S. correctional facilities
and their impact on the incarcerated, the men and women who staff facilities,
and society at large. The Commission is staffed by and funded through the Vera
Institute of Justice.