Corrections officers union calls for staffing will increase after Lansing jail guard 'severely overwhelmed' by inmate

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LANSING, KS (KCTV) — A Lansing Correctional Facility jail guard is within the hospital after taking a beating from an inmate.

Advocates for corrections officers say it may have been prevented if the Kansas Division of Corrections (KDOC) had heeded their pleas for increased staffing numbers.

A KDOC spokeswoman gave restricted particulars concerning the assault, stating, “a corrections officer was injured by a resident, ensuing within the hospitalization of that officer…. The officer is in steady situation.”

The president of the labor union that represents state jail guards went additional, saying the feminine guard, with a number of years’ expertise, ended up within the ICU.

“Very severely overwhelmed,” is how Sarah LaFrenz, president of the Kansas Group of State Staff, described the corrections officer’s accidents.

She mentioned the guard was working solo in a pod of greater than 100 prisoners and it was different inmates who first got here to her help.

“There have been a minimum of two others who obtained the man, the inmate who was attacking her, off of her after which referred to as for an alarm to alert the remainder of the ability that this was occurring,” LaFrenz described.

A yr and a half in the past, prisoners had been relocated from the Civil Battle period Lansing Jail to a new facility, touting improved safety programs and extra environment friendly staffing amongst different issues.

The Kansas Legislative Research Department reported that when pitching the transfer to the 2017 legislative session, “KDOC asserted the brand new facility will cut back the necessity for workers, producing financial savings over time.”

When transfers started in 2020, the KDOC shared a photo of one of 15 128-person living units, typically referred to as pods. LaFrenz mentioned the guard attacked Wednesday was the one one working within the pod she was assigned to.

“When you may have one particular person coping with 127 incarcerated people, as you may inform, statistically talking, that’s already actually fairly poor odds if one thing goes mistaken,” mentioned LaFrenz. “One particular person just isn’t sufficient. You want a minimum of two to a few.”

She mentioned officers and the union have been asking for that change with no success.

Certain, there is likely to be staffing shortages like all over the place else, and it’s clear they’re making an attempt to rent. A giant billboard alongside the freeway by the jail advertises that they’re hiring.

However LaFrenz says the KDOC has advised her that the brand new constructing was designed to accommodate the sort of staff-to-inmate ratio her union finds unacceptable.

“I don’t care the way it was designed. That’s harmful. That’s incorrect. And that units individuals up for failure and really unhealthy outcomes like what we noticed yesterday,” she exclaimed.

KCTV5 contacted the KDOC spokeswoman with an inventory of claims made by the union and requested for a response. She declined and referred us to the preliminary assertion she despatched, which reads as follows:

Investigators with the Kansas Division of Corrections (KDOC) are investigating an incident on the Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) that occurred on the night of November 3, 2021. On this incident, a corrections officer was injured by a resident, ensuing within the hospitalization of that officer.

That is an ongoing investigation, and upon its conclusion the findings will likely be introduced to the suitable authorities for attainable felony prosecution.

The officer is in steady situation and well being privateness legal guidelines don’t allow the discharge of further well being info to the media.

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