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| New Jersey COs and politicians hold DOC brass responsible for prison riot |
| By The Express-Times |
| Published: 05/30/2005 |
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After a riot six months ago at Bayside Prison sent 29 corrections officers to the hospital, lawmakers in Trenton, N.J., have submitted legislation that would force the Department of Corrections to address union demands for more training and oversight, a move seen as the latest clash between rank and file members of the corrections officers union and DOC brass. Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-West Deptford, whose district includes Bayside and many employees, accused DOC Commissioner Devon Brown of failing to address the issue. "He still does not recognize or admit that it was a riot," Sweeney said last Friday. "They have to really take a hard look at that agency within itself and make a change. Change starts at the top." In a statement Brown made last week, he said he would Brown said he would work to implement the senates recommendations. Despite six months and several hearings in which officers detailed the Bayside event, state officials refuse to classify it as a riot. That designation is given to any violent incident involving more than four inmates. The corrections officers' union claims officials have failed to respond to the incident and lawmakers have not been forceful enough in ordering change. Just four corrections officers were guarding 150 inmates in a dormitory-style trailer before the brawl broke out in the Cumberland County prison. During the melee, which guards have described as organized and vicious, inmates allegedly attacked officers with makeshift weapons including padlocks swung inside of socks, broom handles and irons. One officer was so badly injured, doctors installed a titanium plate in his face. |
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