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• May 16, 2008 12:36 pm US/Central
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  Union Blames Staff Shortage For County Jail Fight

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Union Blames Staff Shortage For County Jail Fight

11 Correctional Staff Injured In Tuesday Incident

CHICAGO (STNG) ― The union that represents correctional sergeants and lieutenants at the Cook County Jail is publicly blaming a staff shortage for the Tuesday morning jailyard brawl that left 11 correctional officers injured.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said the fight could have been more quickly controlled or even prevented if more correctional officers had been assigned to supervise more than 200 maximum-security inmates who were in the exercise yard when the brawl broke out, according to a release from the union.

Thirteen security staff were assigned to oversee the yard when the fight occurred, the release said.

Eleven guards and seven inmates were injured when the gang-related melee erupted about 9:15 a.m. between about 40 Cook County Jail inmates in the yard at Divison I of the jail, 2750 S. California Ave., Cook County Sheriff's police spokeswoman Penny Mateck said Tuesday. The union's release said eight inmates were injured.

According to Mateck, 218 inmates were in the yard when the fight started and no weapons were involved. "It was purely a fistfight," she said. None of the injuries suffered were life threatening.

The union says more than 225 inmates were in the yard, supervised by just 13 guards. The organization contends a group of 13 staff would typically be assigned to oversee fewer than 100 inmates.

"The officers and others blame the riot on lack of staff," AFSCME representative John Di Nicola said in the release. "In their opinion, because there wasn't enough personnel assigned to supervise the inmates, the inmates couldn't be secured fast enough. That delay gave inmates their chance to attack the officers."

The release says staff shortages persist despite a federal court order for Cook County to hire more correctional officers and alleviate crowding in jails.

A Cook County Sheriff's Department spokesperson did notimmediately return calls for comment on the union's claims.

(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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