By Sarah Sinning
BONNE TERRE, Mo. — A correctional officer at MODOC’s Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center is speaking out following several recent violent incidents at the prison, FOX2 reports.
On Monday, the news outlet reported, a 30-year veteran staff member was stabbed by an inmate and sent to the hospital; the previous two days likewise saw violence, including an inmate stabbing on Saturday. The maximum-security facility remains on lockdown.
“It can be terrifying at times,” said the CO, who has worked at the facility for under a year and wishes to remain anonymous. “At some points, it’s just chaos. There’s no holding it down. They’re doing whatever they want to do.”
The officer says he feels unsafe every time he goes to work and points to understaffing as the main culprit.
“There have been times where we’ve had less than 40 correctional officers in the camp that houses over 3,000 offenders at any given day of the week,” the officer said. “I will say this, if we have a riot, the campus is screwed, because we do not have the staffing to handle it.”
According to the news outlet, the CO’s dad, Mike, was so concerned for his son’s safety that he purchased a stab-resistant vest for him to wear on duty; the officer, however, was told that it couldn’t be worn because it wasn’t part of the official uniform.
“To me, not letting them wear a stab vest is like telling the police officers, ‘You can’t have a gun. You can’t have a taser. We’re going to send you out on the street to protect your community with a flashlight and a can of mace and handcuffs.’ It’s useless. They’re going to be targeted,” Mike said.
MODOC says that it provides all officers with uniforms and pepper spray and trains them in defensive tactics. The department also told FOX2 that it’s working to pass a bill to increase staff salaries by 30 percent in order to attract more applicants.