By C1 Staff
FREELAND, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Corrections is reviewing staffing levels at the Saginaw Correctional Facility after an officer was brutally attacked by an inmate.
According to WNEM, the prison is down 10 officers from a year ago, with 188 officers overseeing 1,500 inmates.
The officer who was attacked, Kevin Ott, was alone while transporting the inmate.
“We are going to look at all aspects of the incident,” said Russell Martin, with the Michigan DOC. “Officer Ott was alone as he was moving this prisoner. We are going to take a look at the procedure, the protocol, as well as the staffing and if our review shows we need to make changes, we definitely will.
“The safety and security of our staff is our top priority.”
The union believes that if the prison was fully staffed, the attack wouldn’t have happened.
“It’s a shame that we are standing here today with an officer that is one hit from no longer [being] with us, because somebody in Lansing thinks it’s real easy to cut money from a budget, walk away and we have to deal with the fallout from it,” said union president Tom Tylutki.