Union members recognize lawmakers for passage of bill prohibiting disclosure of private correctional employee information to inmates

Hartford, CT – Front-line custody staff in the Department of Correction (DOC) are praising the General Assembly for passing legislation that restricts prisoner access to employee personnel records through the State's Freedom of Information (FOIA) statutes. Citing recent inmate requests for data, correctional officers, supervisors, and other DOC personnel say the legislation will provide needed protections by prohibiting the disclosure of information that can put staff and facility safety at risk.

The legislation will be sent to Governor M. Jodi Rell's desk for action, and if she signs it into law would go into effect immediately.

"This bill helps protect those who walk one of the most dangerous beats in Connecticut," said Mark Verdone, a captain at the Corrigan-Radgowski Institution in Montville and a member of the Correctional Staff Health and Safety Committee. "Without this legal protection, inmates could request personal information under FOIA and use it to harass and threaten frontline workers. With the governor's signature, we'll be able to protect more of the people who put their lives on the line every day," Verdone, a Vice-President of the Corrections Supervisors Council in CSEA/SEIU Local 2001, said.

Recognizing the limited scope of protection under FOIA, the DOC joined with members of Council 4 AFSCME, which represents correction officers and CSEA/SEIU, which represents correction supervisors, to advocate for legislation that would assure vital and common sense legal protections.

"Our jobs are dangerous enough without having our work and family lives put at risk," said Correction Officer Moises Padilla, who works at Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire and also sits on the Correctional Staff Health and Safety Committee. "We thank the legislators who voted for this important public safety bill and urge the governor to sign it into law," Padilla, the Vice-President of AFSCME Local 387, said.

Union leaders and members have appeared before the FOI Commission to oppose efforts by inmates to get hold of personal employee information, and were joined in their efforts by the DOC. They have also appealed resulting rulings in the courts in order to seek legal protections for themselves and their families.

A recent arbitrator's decision extending protections to CSEA/SEIU members in the correction supervisors' bargaining unit underscored the need for broader protection under the law. The legislation passed would also extend the same protections to employees serving in the State's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS).

Council 4 AFSCME and CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 represent nearly 65,000 active and retired public sector workers serving in state, municipal, and town agencies, as well as local school boards across Connecticut. The unions' membership also includes workers with non-profit organizations and private companies contracted to provide public services through state and local government agencies.

 "An Act Concerning the Nondisclosure of Certain Information Regarding Certain Employees to Inmates Under the Freedom of Information Act"