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| N.H. Prison Officers Blame Escape On Budget Cuts |
| By WMUR |
| Published: 06/10/2003 |
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Prison officers said last week's escape of three inmates from Concord State Prison could have been prevented. Prison employees said an officer should have been in the tower in the area where the men cut through a fence, but because of a hiring freeze, no one was there. 'We just don't have enough to go around,' said Gary Smith, of the State Employees Association, the union that represents prison officers. The SEA said the prison has been understaffed for months, making security more difficult. 'It's extremely difficult, because our best and first defense against acting out or escape is officer presence,' officer Paul Cascio said. The officers said of the roughly 300 positions in the prison, 44 are empty, because the state stopped hiring officers. Prison officials wouldn't comment on what the union calls 'understaffing issues,' but they said their ratio of one officer to every four inmates is standard around the country. 'At the time of the escape, we had 70 uniformed officers and 200 nonuniformed personnel trained in security, so we were fully staffed under the current budgeted pattern of our prison,' prison spokesman Jeff Lyons said. At the Statehouse June 5, the Senate passed a new budget plan, which in part would eliminate 37 vacant officer positions, despite efforts to get more money for the prison. 'Because of staff ratios in decline, we had three escapees,' Sen. Sylvia Larsen said. Gov. Craig Benson said an investigation is under way into how the prisoners escaped, but he said he doesn't necessarily believe budget cuts are to blame. The three escapees were captured in a Massachusetts campground on June 5. |
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