PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
November 27, 2017
Contact: Mazie Stilwell, Communications Specialist
(515) 246-2637; [email protected]
IMCC NURSE ASSAULT WAS PREVENTABLE
DES MOINES – AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the nurse who was beaten by an inmate at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville on Friday, November 24, 2017:
“The inmate who brutally beat a nurse at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center knew about the dangerous staffing levels within the facility and saw it as an opportunity to strike. The inmate waited for staff to open the West unit yard, leaving only one officer on the unit. Under adequate staffing levels, there would be an additional officer to monitor the yard, but that position was eliminated. After having been hospitalized, the nurse is recovering from an attack that likely would have never occurred had her safety, and the safety of everyone within the facility, been a priority. There have been two additional staff assaults since Friday’s incident.
“It is sickening that the failing Governor and Department of Corrections refuse to do anything about the state of crisis in which our correctional facilities are operating. Woefully inadequate staffing levels are at the root of this issue, and until this Administration gets their act together, I have no doubt that incidents like this will continue to occur. Enough is enough.”
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 61 represents 40,000 public employees in Iowa including law enforcement and correctional officers, firefighters, mental health workers, professional school staff, emergency responders, and many other workers. AFSCME Council 61 also represents home health care and child care providers across the state and private sector workers at Prairie Meadows, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Des Moines University, and ABM (Marshalltown).
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