DOC rule changes worry corrections officers
6:07 PM, Jan. 5, 2012
Written by
Colleen Kottke
The Reporter
MADISON — With Act 10 scrapping all previous bargaining agreements, corrections officers are wondering about their rights and protections under the rule changes being launched this month.
In a memo released to all Department of Corrections employees, DOC Secretary Gary Hamblin announced most provisions contained in statewide bargaining agreements, local agreements and Memorandums of Understanding would be terminated and associated past practices would no longer apply.
“Union workers had protections in the contract and all those protections have been lifted with the passage of Act 10,” said Marty Beil, executive director of the state employees union.
For years, the state corrections officers union has opposed the DOC policy allowing corrections officers to dispense medication to inmates. To shield prison workers from potential liability, unions included language in collective bargaining agreements.
“Those protections existed because there appeared to be gaps in the law in regards to civil liability; and second, correctional officers are not health-care professionals and should not be disciplined for unintentional errors in distribution,” Beil said. “With that collective bargaining agreement gone, that language has gone away, and this is a big concern for corrections officers.”
Tim LeMonds, a spokesman for the DOC, said the distribution of certain medications to inmates is permissible under DOC policy, but the practice of utilizing corrections officers for this duty varies from institution to institution.
In 2009, a federal judge ruled the DOC hire licensed practical nurses to hand out drugs to inmates at Taycheedah Correctional Institution. The action was part of a federal class-action lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union filed in 2006 on behalf of TCI inmates.
According to court records, the ACLU argued the state violated the rights of TCI prisoners by having guards without medical training dispense drugs to inmates, routinely resulting in the wrong medications or wrong dosages being given to inmates.
“In my mind, correctional officers should not be passing medication to inmates, especially Schedule II and III narcotics. Any training given to corrections officers in the academy is nowhere near the training health-care professionals receive,” said Daniel Meehan, union president at Waupun Correctional Institution. “The way the new negotiating notes are worded leaves the door open to internal discipline of those officers committing unintentional errors in the distribution of medications.”
LeMonds said any liability for a DOC employee as it relates to an incident occurring while the employee is performing duties assigned to them while on the job will be covered by the DOC under state law. In addition, any civil judgment that might result from such a lawsuit will be paid as long as the officer was performing his or her assigned duties as required.
“Essentially, staff that follows appropriate policy and procedure and who exercise reasonable diligence are not at personal risk as Wisconsin statutory provisions provide them protection,” LeMonds said.
Beil said forcing untrained officers to dispense prescribed drugs is mercenary.
“What it all boils down to is that (the DOC) doesn’t want to hire trained health-care professionals,” Beil said. “Officers passing medications are at a huge risk. Not only are they open to liability and internal discipline, they no longer have a mechanism or grievance process to appeal a supervisor’s or employer’s decision. We’d like to get discussions going with the health-care industry about how we can band together to force the hand of the DOC to put professional people on staff to distribute these medications instead of officers.”
In 2006, the Wisconsin DOC estimated it would cost more than $5.2 million a year to have 102 nurses dispense medications.
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