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| Colorado Adds More Officers at Prison in Wake of Slaying |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/30/2002 |
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The Colorado Department of Corrections has sent additional officers to the Limon Correctional Facility after a food service supervisor was slain. And while the facility was not fully staffed, prison officials said the shortage of officers didn't contribute to the employee's death. The officers were brought in right after the killing to lend support to 'a staff that was in emotional shock,' said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan. 'Limon has six vacancies which need to be filled,' Morgan said, but she said nothing could have prevented the killing of corrections officer Sgt. Eric Autobee on Oct. 18. 'It would have made no difference if 10 officers were in the kitchen,' she said. It is standard practice to send additional officers after a major incident. The prison, on the edge of Limon, 90 miles east of Denver, 'is under stress and has had a difficult time,' which is compounded by the difficulty of recruiting officers for a remote, rural prison, she said. A female teacher at the prison was raped in January. Five other prison staffers have died because of traffic accidents or illness in the last several years. The facility originally had a budget for 274 employees. It is authorized now for 254 employees and has 248. It had 925 inmates Friday. 'Staff perceptions are clouded by pain and the stress they are going through right now,' Morgan added. According to an affidavit from an investigating officer, Edward Montour killed Autobee to be separated from the general prison population. Montour, a convicted baby killer, could have chosen to disobey a direct order from an officer - rather than kill a prison employee - in order to be separated from the prison population, Morgan said. |
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