‘Callous’ Prison Officials Put Staff, Inmates at Risk

Better Off Working on a Chain Gang: A prison is also a work environment, thereby entitling inmates to similar guarantees of workplace safety afforded to corporate employees, a federal agency has ruled. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the U.S. Justice Department, made the ruling in response to an investigation at Elkton Federal Correction Institution’s computer-recycling plant, operated by prisoners. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, an organization that represents civil service employees, applauded the decision. PEER earlier had blasted officials at the Ohio federal prison for allegedly failing to protect both prison staff and inmates from exposure to “high levels of lead and cadmium” at the prison-run plant.

Managers at Elkton Federal Correction Institution’s plant exhibited “callous indifference” to the health of staffers, their families and inmates working there, says PEER executive director Jeff Ruch. Prison administrators failed to conduct medical monitoring that would make it easier to assess the extent of health risk or damage people might have suffered, the Washington, D.C., nonprofit says. Details of the potential health hazards are included in a July 16 report prepared by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and submitted to the Office of the Inspector General. It’s unclear what steps justice officials will take to prevent similar instances, although similar inquiries are said to be under way in at least two other federal prisons.