By
DEBORAH A. MILESA personal alarm, about the size of a cell phone, is making a lot of difference for members who work at Elmira Correctional Facility. The new device is making them feel safer while working with inmates who have a history of attacking staff.
The problem with the old personal alarms was their inability to pinpoint the exact location of the person.
The new alarms have a locator system.
“Even though I’m usually at the school, I run a program in the Special Housing Unit — the box,” said Tom Sterling, a teacher at Elmira. “With the old alarm, if I’m in the box and the alarm goes off, the officers would run to the school. I could have been killed or at least badly assaulted. With the new alarm, my picture goes up on a screen and they can see exactly where I am. Someone will say, “Sterling’s down” or “man down” and officers will respond right away.”
The staff received the new alarms in May and had a few glitches due to their sophistication and sensitivity. Sterling explained the alarm will go off if it tilts on an angle of more than 60 degrees.
“If I bend over in the classroom to help a student, the alarm will start to go off. I have 15 seconds to turn it off before it activates. If you do nothing within those 15 seconds, the officers will respond.
“The
inmates are aware we have the new alarms. They don’t miss a thing,” Sterling
said.Sharon Benson, a psychiatric nurse at Elmira, is also glad the staff has the new alarms. She usually has an escort officer when dispensing medications, but sometimes she is alone.
“I’ve been here a little more than two years and never had an incident,” Benson said. “When we come to work, we pick up our keys and alarms and we are on our own until we get to the unit. Then we are inside a locked nurses station.”
Benson said the unit is a temporary location, and when construction is completed for a new hospital, it will be at the furthest end of the prison.
“Then, we will have to walk by ourselves and among inmates who are out and about. I will feel more secure with the new alarm. All I need to do is pull the string and it will activate.”
Better-detecting alarms are something PEF members at the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) have wanted for a long time. In May 2007, Commissioner Brian Fischer announced $1.5 million of the DOCS budget would be used for new and improved personal alarm devices.
“This is something we had planned to fight for when we saw that the funds were not in last year’s budget,” said Tom Donahue, PEF labor-management chair at DOCS. “Because of the commissioner’s actions, we didn’t have to. We are glad to see our members at Elmira are more at ease with the new devices.”
Members of PEF and the Civil Service Employees Association will also receive them at other maximum and medium correctional facilities.
