Two correction councilors sustained minor injuries at Cheshire’s Manson Youth Institution during a fight that broke out during a basketball game.
The Department of Corrections said the incident was a case of friendly competition where tempers boiled over between two inmates, and it was not an unprovoked attack on corrections staff.
But the union representing corrections staff is calling that description minimizing, adding friendly competition doesn’t lead to two staff member injuries.
“The anxiety and tension inside the prisons is very high right now. Staff are on edge," said Sean Howard, president of Local 387, the union representing correction staff.
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He said stress levels continue to rise following the stabbing of two correction officers in Newtown, and an attack while an officer was serving food in Cheshire.
“They are doing OK physically. Mentally, it’s going to be a challenge for them," Howard said.
Howard points to the Protect Act passed in 2021 for the recent attacks. The law cuts back the use of restrictive housing and increases inmates' out of cell time.
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“It took away our ability to do our jobs safely," Howard said.
Howard adds the need for more officer postings inside facilities to show inmates they have a presence to keep everyone safe. He would also like to see the law re-worked.
On Wednesday, Governor Ned Lamont said there is a task force involving stakeholders working on solutions to the recent injuries, but doesn’t blame the law.
“It’s more complicated than how much time you spent in the cell and out of the cell," Lamont said.
He said the task force would be looking at the implications of the law and all challenges facing facilities to come up, with solutions to keep everyone inside safe.
“What can we do to keep them safe, we will have the results on that in the next couple of months," Lamont said.
NBC Connecticut reached out to the Department of Correction for clarification on who is involved in the task force, when it was convened and what they were working on. Howard with Local 387 said he had not heard of any task force coming together, and Lamont could provide no other details on their work.
State Senator Cathy Osten, a former correction officer, agrees with Howard that staffing is a challenge for facilities across the state.
“I do think we need to have enough staff to handle the increased number of people that are out for recreation," Osten said.
But she adds the need for staffing is across the board, not just for enforcement. She points to a need for more social workers and medical staff to handle an increase in the population of people suffering from chronic mental illness.
“The main problem at hand is the number of people that are incarcerated that are chronically mentally ill," Osten said.
She said legislators have been working to decrease the number of incarcerated individuals in Connecticut. So the people left inside facilities are those suffering from chronic mental illness, and those that are highly dangerous. But with that shift, there is a gap in resources to correctly care for those people.
“The facilities themselves were never set up to handle the population that revolved around mental illness," Osten said.
But Osten expects some relief for correction facilities when 190 new staff members graduate from training in Connecticut by the end of the year.
The Department of Correction is still investigating the most recent Manson Youth Institution incident.
