Guards Union Complaints Prompt Funds Transfer to Avoid Sequester Furloughs

by Derek Gilna

Tightening budgets due to the 2013 sequester cuts have forced U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to transfer $150 million from other agencies to allow the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to avoid guard furloughs from now until the end of the federal fiscal year in September.

This action came just days after the head of the prison guards union lamented the death of a prison guard, Eric Williams, at USP Canaan in Pennsylvania – the first since 2008, drawing national attention to the scheduled BOP staff cutbacks.

The sequester has cut the BOP’s budget by 5%, or $339 million, which included $300 million in salaries according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. So much of the cuts are concentrated in the salary category because other fixed expenses can not be easily eliminated or reduced.

            The plan would have required guards to take 14 unpaid days off between April 21 and the end of September, meaning that they would have had an unpaid day off every two weeks. Protest rallies organized by Dale Deshotel, national president for the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Local, were credited with derailing the layoffs. “Apparently our message was good and clear and they understood,” he said.

There is no doubt that the guards union is not shy about advancing their own interests. Unlike many professional employees of the Justice Department, such as FBI agents, U.S. Marshals, DEA and U.S. Attorneys and their staffs, most of whom are not permitted to strike and belong to no union, the guards are extremely well-organized to draw attention to any potential threat to public safety through the media, a hot-button issue for the publicity-shy BOP. No public official can afford to be seen as precipitating a public safety crisis, so Holder was quick to respond to the pressure and transfer funds from other agencies.

Although the cancellation of the planned furloughs got all of the publicity, the murdered guard apparently had been working alone in the 100-person cell block as a matter of policy. Most prison guards working in close proximity to prisoners do not carry weapons as a matter of routine, and often work alone, with only a radio. A colleague of Williams, speaking anonymously, said, “Pepper spray would not have saved Eric Williams. A gun wouldn’t have saved him. What happened was so fast. The only thing I think would have been another staff member. Without someone there pressing that (panic) button, all that stuff is ineffective.”

Pennsylvania Congressman Matt Cartwright lauded Holder’s action in canceling the furlough, but also wondered where the transferred money would come from. “The only question I have here is: where was that money diverted from? This wasn’t money that wasn’t added to anyone’s budget. The $85 million in sequester cuts are still there. Who’s the Peter that was robbed to pay Paul?”

There has been no announcement from Holder’s office as to which of the other agencies, such as the FBI, U.S. Marshals and DEA, will have to absorb the money that is being used to keep BOP prison guards on the job.

Source: www.citzensvoice.com          

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