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Date Posted: 09:51:26 02/04/10 Thu
Author: Chief J Strongbow
Subject:

C.O. Bill of Rights update

BILL ADVANCES TO PUNISH �DEHUMANIZING� ASSAULT OF PRISON GUARDS

By Kyle Cheney
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, FEB. 1, 2010�..A proposal aimed at tacking on stiff penalties for inmates who fling feces, urine or other bodily fluids at prison guards is on the move in the House, where it has died in each of the last two legislative sessions.

The bill (S 997) would punish inmates who assault corrections officers, prison employees, volunteers or contractors using feces, urine, mucous, semen, blood or saliva with a 2.5-year sentence in a house of corrections or a five- to 15-year sentence in state prison. The punishment would be added to the end of any ongoing sentence, according to the proposal.

The House gave initial approval to the bill Thursday. The Senate passed the bill Jan. 13.

�The [assault and battery] bill is an important issue,� said Seth Gitell, a spokesman of House Speaker Robert DeLeo. �It�s one [the speaker] expects the House to take up soon.�

The Patrick administration supports the proposal, although aides say they�d prefer it without the option for a five- to 15-year state prison term. Christopher Fallon, a former corrections officer of 20 years, told the News Service the proposal is necessary to punish a �dehumanizing type of assault.�

�It�s hard to explain to anybody what it really does to the officer�s psyche,� said Fallon, now the Department of Corrections director of outreach. �You really just want to lash out, but many times, you can�t lash out. That�s one of the constraints we have put upon us. It really takes a long time to get over the fact that you�ve just been really violated.�

Fallon said officers often fear they will contract a communicable disease, and sometimes take �cocktails� meant to prevent infection, which often force them to miss work. Fallon said he�d witnessed officers hit in the face with urine and feces, which he described as �vile.�

The legislation advanced in previous years with the support of public safety advocates, including the co-chairs of the Committee on Public Safety, the Patrick administration and corrections officers, but ran into objections from the AIDS Action Committee, which said the bill stokes an unfair stigma about communicable disease. Advocates for prisoners with mental disabilities also charged that the bill would unfairly target those inmates.

Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, said individuals who are committing the proposed crime are probably mentally ill.

�I would bet a large sum of money it was mentally ill prisoners in segregation who are beyond enduring the confines of their 24-hour-a-day lockup,� said Walker. �This is, in my mind, another way to criminalize mental illness.�

Walker called the bill �completely and totally unnecessary� and said individuals can be prosecuted under the existing assault and battery law on the books.

�I have never heard of it happening from someone who is not an open mental health case,� she said, adding that her preferred solution would be to remove prisoners from segregation units, which she said can sometimes foster mental illness.

However, backers of the bill say it will help root out criminals who intend to inflict pain, and potentially disease, on prison guards, and they describe the trauma corrections officers suffer when they face such assault � most undergo a battery of blood tests to ensure they haven�t contracted any illness.

�In my discussions with members of the corrections officers union, it�s just violent criminals, mean-spirited criminals and it�s never been conveyed to me that the ones who do this tend to be the ones who are very imbalanced,� said Rep. Robert Koczera (D-New Bedford), a co-sponsor of the bill in the House.

Koczera said he is hopeful the House will pass the bill this session.

-END-
2/1/2010

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