DOC and union to examine policies, procedures for staff trauma in wake of CT correction officer’s assault

The Connecticut Department of Correction announced Tuesday that the department and union representatives have agreed to examine policies and procedures for trauma endured by staff members in the wake of an assault on a correction officer earlier this month.

The announcement came 10 days after a correction officer was punched in the face by an incarcerated person at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield on June 10, prompting union representatives to call for more mental health support for staff.

The DOC announced that members of the department’s executive team and union representatives met and “agreed to jointly examine policies and procedures related to staff trauma, mental health and departmental response to assaults on staff members,” the department said in a statement.

The staff member was still being monitored Tuesday as part of “a concussion protocol.” He was found unconscious with head trauma and lacerations to his mouth after being hit without warning, the DOC said.

During a press conference following the assault, members of the American Federation State County Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 391 said the correction officer was “severely assaulted” by an intoxicated inmate and was left lying unconscious in a pool of blood with severe lacerations to his face.

Serious assault of CT correction officer highlights need for mental health support, time to ‘decompress’

“This is an image that will last with me for the rest of my life,” Brett Gifford, a correction officer at MacDougall-Walker and union steward, said during the press conference last week. “The officer was taken out of the facility on a stretcher and transported to St. Francis Hospital by ambulance.”

Union officials said the facility was locked down right after the assault but had returned to normal operations by the next day.

The union argued during the press conference that employees and inmates needed more time to decompress and said the prison should have stayed in lockdown for another day or two. They called for mental health awareness training for all staff and more decompression time in the event of an assault, officials said.

In Tuesday’s statement, the department said that the goal of the collaboration between the union and DOC management was to reduce the effects of direct and indirect trauma. The department would be reviewing its policies and operational responses, the statement said, “making adjustments that support its overall objective of maintaining a safe and secure environment, centered on human dignity.”

“Any assault on a staff member is serious,” said Sharonda Carlos, acting DOC commissioner. “Trauma takes many forms, both seen and unseen; it is in all our best interests to work to minimize its effects.”