By Joseph Luiz
The Hanford Sentinel
CORCORAN — Public safety concerns regarding Corcoran State Prison were expressed during an awareness event Saturday at John Maroot Park.
Greg Kissick, president of the Corcoran chapter of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), read a statement voicing the concerns of many of the correctional officers that work for the prison about the harmful effects of AB 109, a bill the state Legislature passed in 2011. The bill aimed to reduce prison costs and congestion by eliminating staff positions and moving 32,000 inmates to local facilities by 2013.
Rene Hernandez, the chapter’s vice president, said the major problem is the state is cutting important armed positions such as maximum security guards, compromising the safety of the public and other staff.
“We’re trying to get state legislators to see the concerns of the staff and how many critical safety positions are being eliminated,” he said.
Hernandez said the CCPOA has tried to voice its concerns to prison administration as well as to state legislators, but have been ignored.
“We just want to make sure the state removes positions that aren’t so important for security,” he said.
Michael Smith, a correctional officer, agrees with Hernandez and said it’s a serious situation. He hopes at least a half-dozen positions will be saved through the campaign.
“Something really bad can happen out of this,” Smith said. “I lost a partner there and I don’t want to see anyone else get killed.”
Smith said he understands that staff reductions are necessary, but feels the state and prison administration are mistaken about which positions should be cut. He believes the public needs to be made aware of possible weaknesses in security so they can be on their guard.
“We have to be proactive and show the community that the prison isn’t as safe as it should be,” Smith said. “Right now, the level of security for a major facility like this is a joke.”
Smith said the prison administration doesn’t want to hear the prison is not safe. He said some members of the administration have admitted to him behind closed doors that there is a problem with how positions are being eliminated. However, Smith said, they don’t want to admit to these mistakes publicly and change the course they’ve already started to go on.
“It’s like their just juggling numbers and trying to make it work,” he said. “But this is jeopardizing the public, and we are well within our rights to voice our concerns. We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can and save the right jobs.”
Attempts to reach prison administration officials for comment were unsuccessful.
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