The things guards go through.
This is a problem in all jails. Our jail has a showers in the employee bathrooms because we have problems with this. And punishment is almost impossible. Usually in our jail they are put on lockdown for a minimum of 96 hours and lose their commisary. {Jail store where inmates are allowed to buy candy bars, hygiene products, paper, envelopes, stamps, etc...} But this only curbs the problem temporarily.<BR>
Prison Guards Seek Protection From Fluids
May 04, 2005 5:17 PM EDT
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont prisons do a good job at keeping knives and other weapons away from inmates. What they can't take away from offenders are their own bodily fluids.
Urinating in a corrections guard's ice tea and throwing feces at the officers are the types of offenses that guards and prison administrators alike say should be punished more severely in Vermont.
The House Judiciary Committee is discussing whether to make such acts a specific crime after prosecutors said the best they can do is charge an inmate with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor with a sentence of 60 days.
"For the officers working to have this happen to them in front of potentially 49 other inmates and staff, it demoralizes them on the spot," said Dominic Damato, administrative supervisor at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.
Assault with bodily fluids poses a health risk for the employees because of the potential for spreading diseases such as hepatitis or AIDS, Damato said. It also makes retention of prison guards a difficult task, he said.
Dave Bellini, a 27-year Corrections employee, said being hit with bodily fluids is worse than being punched. "I've been spit at. It's degrading. It's humiliating," he said.
Corrections staff can discipline inmates who misbehave, such as putting them in segregation, denying privileges and not recommending them for parole, said John Perry, planning director for the Corrections Department. But many inmates who do this sort of thing are in segregation, and sanctions have little or no impact.
Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann said the department is looking at new ways of disciplining inmates for unacceptable behavior, including the possibility of feeding them a "nutrition loaf" instead of the traditional meal. The loaf would provide all the nutrition required without the flavor. "It would encourage them to change their behavior," Hofmann said.