Fearing for safety, Stillwater correctional officers refuse to work in prison workshop

Correctional officers at the Stillwater prison refused Wednesday to work in an industry area where one of their colleagues was killed two months ago, citing security concerns.

It was supposed to be the first day the industry area reopened since the death of Joseph Gomm, who was allegedly bludgeoned to death by an inmate July 18 while on duty.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections had planned to reopen the reconfigured industry area with 17 offenders who would fold and package lightweight materials, according to an email from department spokesperson Sarah Fitzgerald. She said the planned reopening followed weeks of preparation and consultation with employees.

"Every effort has been undertaken to ensure the workplace setting for this low-risk task is safe for our officers, staff and inmates — their safety is, and always will be, our highest priority," she wrote.

Tim Henderson, associate director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5, said local union leaders requested four more correctional officers be added to the industry area before it was reopened so no officer would be patrolling alone. The department said it couldn't meet the request, Henderson said.

Henderson said correctional officers continue to fear for their safety in the sprawling industry area.

"There's a lot of blind spots that the correctional officers are concerned about," he said. "They wanted cameras to be able to record those blind spots, and the department has not met that goal yet."

Henderson said union representatives and corrections department leaders have been meeting to discuss the staffing and security issues. Short-term fixes could involve reducing the amount of mandated overtime and not reducing officers in one area to cover another, he said.

The long-term solution is to increase the staffing, not only at Stillwater, but the other nine correctional facilities as well, the union leader said. That would require additional funding from the Legislature.

Fitzgerald said the Department of Corrections shares the desire to increase staffing. Over the last eight years, the department has requested legislative funding to add another 150 correctional officers, she said.

"Unfortunately, those requests were not funded," Fitzgerald wrote.

Gomm, 45, was the first Minnesota corrections officer to lose his life in the line of duty. A grand jury indicted Edward M. Johnson, 42, with first-degree murder.

Henderson said Gomm's death continues to weigh heavily on the minds of Stillwater employees.

"These staff just want to get up in the morning, go to work and come home safely to their family," he said. "And they want somebody to make sure that there's a set of eyes watching them while they do their work and there's no blind spots that they could be jumped. And they don't feel that the industry area of Stillwater is there yet."

Correction (Sept. 5, 2018): This story has been updated to clarify the industry area that is being reopened at the prison.