By Charlie McKenna
masslive.com
BOSTON — A group of state legislators has called on Gov. Maura Healey to take action to secure the state’s prisons in the wake of an attack that injured five correction officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
State Reps. Kimberly Ferguson, R-1st Worcester, Jonathan Zlotnik, D-2nd Worcester, and state Sen. Michael Moore, D-2nd Worcester, authored the Oct. 8 letter to Healey.
In it, they call for the “immediate implementation” of “reasonable policy adjustments” at Department of Correction facilities across the state.
The legislators called on the Democratic governor to implement regular, routine tactical searches of all facilities, in particular, those that are classified as medium or maximum security, to ensure “swift prosecution” of inmate assaults on correction officers and to establish monthly meetings between the department and the union representing officers.
Prison inmates who attacked and stabbed correction officers at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in September were captured on video.
Specifically, the legislators called for inmates to be prosecuted under the “Bodily Fluids Act,” which calls for any person in custody who assaults an officer with a bodily fluid to serve jail time.
Those prosecutions have “not been pursued in a manner consistent enough to establish an effective deterrent,” the letter reads.
The letter also calls on Healey to establish what the legislators called a “Blue-Ribbon Taskforce” that would review safety and security protocols, provide transparency and make additional recommendations for the department.
“We feel strongly that this will provide greater safety and security for Officers, staff, and inmates,” the letter reads.
Implementing the actions called for in the letter would be “significant steps forward in providing a safe and secure environment for all in our correctional facilities,” the legislators wrote.
The Sept. 18 attack left two officers with stab wounds, including one with a punctured lung. In the wake of the attack, the union representing officers called for significant reform at Souza-Baranowski, which it decried as unsafe.
Three inmates were charged with the attack: Jose Crespo, Heriberto Rivera-Negron and Jeffrey Tapia. All three men were charged with mayhem, armed assault to murder and assault to murder.
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