|
|
| MRSA clean-up was a staffing decision |
| By Matt Dunn |
| Published: 04/17/2009 |
|
BRIDGETON -- Eliminating weekend MRSA detail at Cumberland County Jail was a staffing decision and not a budgetary decision, according to Warden Glenn Saunders. "We've been having a great deal of difficulty staffing the security posts (on the weekend)," Saunders said Thursday, explaining that corrections officers often were forced to work mandatory overtime to watch over the inmate population. "My decision was not based on dollars and sense. It was based on staffing." Saunders said some corrections officers refused to work the mandatory overtime. They complained that it was unfair to force them to work overtime when a group of officers were already volunteering to work overtime in order to supervise jail clean-up. "We have a lot of volunteers to do MRSA detail," Saunders said at a meeting of the county department of public safety. "It's not as difficult as working the security post." Officers on weekend MRSA detail work an 8-hour shift, not cleaning, but supervising inmates cleaning in an effort to reduce the spread of MRSA -- methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus -- a highly-contagious staph infection common to jails, nursing homes, hospitals and other confined facilities. Five officers are assigned to each clean-up shift on the weekend. "I could not look those officers (working mandatory overtime) in the eye and justify them working 16 hours a day," Saunders said, while this other group works what he sees as a preferable duty. Clean-up of MRSA, which began after an inmate contracted a serious case of MRSA -- which Saunders said contributed to his death -- will continue for six hours a day during the week. "Previously we were having officers serve 230 hours a week of overtime to address MRSA clean-up," he said. "Now it's only 150 hours a week." Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think