Even if a prison employee wanted to date an inmate who had served his sentence, fraternizing with current or former inmates is grounds for firing, Parks notes. She reported the inmate's inappropriate comments and pushed to postpone the release of James Porter, her would-be suitor and a convicted, violent sexual predator. Although Corrections put a hold on Porter for several days, a judge ordered him set free. He is awaiting trial. But many prison inmates don't wait until they are released to commit new crimes.
Crime also happens within the prison walls.
That's why teachers and library workers were shocked and angered when prison officials told them last October correctional officers would no longer keep a constant watch on the classrooms and libraries located within the prison's U-shaped educational wing, which features observation windows into each room. The proposed change called for only intermittent observation twice hourly in the classrooms and libraries and no officer supervision in the final 90 minutes of each day. Following negotiations with the union, prison officials eventually agreed to restore officer patrols during the week, but on Saturdays librarians and library technical assistants were still scheduled to be left alone and unarmed in their libraries with as many as 13 inmates. John Veen, a CSEA labor relations representative, says it's not fair to librarians, teachers or correctional officers to have lone officers patrolling buildings located in the area the size of a football field, as proposed by Corrections. It might take several minutes for an officer to respond when a personal alarm is activated, and a lot of crime can be committed within several minutes, Veen indicated.