Though only 8 percent of state employees work for the Department of Corrections, they account for roughly one-third of all mental stress workers' compensation claims during the last six years.
According to state records, corrections officers and non-uniformed staff have filed 56 mental stress workers' compensation claims since 1995, with about half of them deemed valid. Corrections had 940 employees as of last year.
During the same period, only 166 mental stress claims were filed by all other 11,525 state employees, according to figures compiled by Eileen Bernard, head of the state's Bureau of Risk Management.
Those numbers have some wondering whether corrections workers are abusing the system that lets them go out on 60 percent of their salary tax-free on valid workers' compensation claims.
Corrections Commissioner Philip Stanley said he doesn't think anyone is taking advantage of the system. He said stress claims are to be expected because of the nature of the work.
'I don't think it's a major problem,' he said. 'It is stressful to work with offenders, but on the other hand working with offenders is also very challenging and exciting. What may be stressful to one person is exciting to another.'
But Robert Miller, who resigned as manager of the state prison's diagnostic unit in May 1999, said he thinks many of the workers are out collecting 'funny money.'
'They call them the 'Lost Battalion,' the amount of people out collecting (mental stress workers' compensation),' he said. 'This is the big joke.'
But Kathryn Barger, director of the state workers' compensation program, said workers can't cash in on the system just by claiming to be stressed.  Physical evidence, such as stomach problems or depression, are needed.
'They are hard to prove. It also has to be shown that there was more stress in the work than in the worker's private life,' she said. 'Often times someone is going through a divorce or has an ill child.
'They have to prove the stress at work was the cause of the physical symptom, as opposed to the outside stress.'
And Jeff Lyons, spokesman for the Corrections Department, said working with inmates can be more stressful than many other types of jobs.
'In general, corrections officers work the entire time they are at work -- and in overtime situations -- with inmates who can be less than cooperative sometimes,' he said.
'Sometimes they can be very cooperative, but it can cause a very stressful situation for the officer.'
Bernard said that overall claim payments have been reduced by 36 percent between 1995 and 1999, and Gov. Jeanne Shaheen issued an executive order two years ago requiring that health and safety in state workplaces be improved.