By Liz Zemba
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Fayette County Prison corrections officers don’t have adequate access to cleaning supplies, latex gloves or a shower facility, according to the president of the labor union.
Michael Hicks, president of United Mine Workers of America Local 9113, advised the prison board yesterday that grievances over all three concerns have yet to be resolved.
Hicks said guards need the latex gloves to protect themselves against bloodborne pathogens when handling inmates. A shower, set aside for the officers’ use in case they come into contact with bodily fluids is broken, he said, noting the shower is in a public area.
Although Hicks said guards have been told to buy their own, reusable leather or cloth gloves for use in patting down prisoners, Warden Brian Miller said a limited supply of latex gloves is provided to corrections officers.
“They’re given rubber gloves, but when the sewage authority screams at me because there are 5,000 rubber gloves in the sewer, I have to limit how many I give out,” Miller said.
Miller said mops, buckets and brooms were placed under lock and key because the items, whenever left out, were disappearing. Corrections officers must now sign them out. He said discussions are ongoing with the officers regarding their requests for other cleaning supplies.
Miller said officers who come into contact with bodily fluids either can go home to clean up or use a shower at the jail.
The shower, however, is broken and in an area that offers little privacy, Hicks said. Corrections Officer Dan Campbell, who attended the meeting yesterday, described it as “filthy.”
Hicks said the union wants to use vending-machine proceeds to purchase a portable shower for guards but that the revenue now is deposited directly into the county’s general fund.
A fourth grievance that remains unresolved, Hicks said, is a recent change that prohibits guards from consuming food at their posts.
Officers don’t get lunch breaks, he said, resulting in their eating lunches on one of their two 15-minute breaks. Hicks said because the breaks are too short for most to make it to and from the break room in the allotted time, officers have been eating at their posts.
Miller, the warden, said he removed electric coolers from the guards’ posts and prohibited food consumption because the practice increases the likelihood of contraband entering the jail.
Dominick Carnicella, human resources director, said talks with the union are ongoing regarding the lunch breaks and concerns over limited access to cleaning supplies.
Prison board members said they will look into Hicks’ concerns, and several indicated they plan to visit the prison to inspect the shower facility before possibly taking any action.
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