The president of the union at Rhode Island’s state prison told PBN violence at the Cranston facility “is now at a level I’ve never seen.
“Our prison is out of control,” said union President Richard Ferruccio.
And the response from the state Department of Corrections and the governor’s office? Crickets. Neither responded to PBN requests for comment on conditions at the Adult Correctional Institutions.
Tensions between R.I. Department of Corrections Director Wayne T. Salisbury Jr. and the 900-member Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers have been building.
The union has a laundry list of what it says have been mostly unanswered complaints leading to what Mr. Ferruccio says is now a shortage of more than 100 correctional officers. The staff shortage has contributed to escalating violence, gang activity and drug activity, he says.
Mr. Ferruccio says Gov. Daniel J. McKee promised him more than a year ago he would work to ease the tensions but has yet to follow through.
“We are getting frustrated,” said the union president.
If Mr. Ferruccio is to be believed, the prison is becoming a powder keg, threatening not only the safety of correctional officers but the community if the violence continues to escalate.
If Mr. Salisbury and the governor disagree with Mr. Ferruccio’s threat assessment, then they need to say so publicly. Failing to even respond to requests for comment, however, suggests a dangerous lack of attention and concern that lends credence to the union’s complaints.