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DEBORAH A. MILES On April 19, Leah Hosie, a counselor at Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, was assaulted by an inmate. He punched her repeatedly in the head, arms and hand.
“I was leaving the classroom where my office is located,” Hosie said. “There is a divider in the room and one of the inmates was on the wrong side. The program assistant who was showing an educational video told the inmate, ‘You know you are not supposed to be over here.’ I asked if everything was all right, and the inmate told me it was none of my business.”
Hosie said she had never had a negative dealing with this inmate in the past.
As she was leaving the room, he was sitting in the back near the door.
“He called my name, and the next thing I knew I was struck down,” Hosie said.
Staff members responded immediately. Hosie was sent to the regional medical unit, and then transported by ambulance to a hospital. She was fortunate not to have any broken bones, but she is still healing from the deep bruises and the trauma of being assaulted.
“I’ve been wearing the world’s largest pair of sunglasses to cover my face,” she said.
Hosie said incidents on staff at Wende CF seldom occur. So, what happened on April 19?
“It’s never about the class. With inmates, it’s always something else. Maybe he didn’t take his medication. Maybe he needed to get out of the loop for a while, or maybe someone just wanted to take me out,” Hosie said.
One of the problems at Wende CF is the lack of officers in the classroom.
“There was no officer. We don’t have anyone to pull a pin. It’s always been dangerous,” Hosie said.
PEF Division 348 Council Leader Angelo Amato said the issue of not having an officer in the classroom has been brought up several times in labor-management meetings.
“The superintendent’s answer is not enough staff,” Amato said. “He said there is no requirement for an officer to be present, even though there may be 40 inmates in the room. When you have 40 inmates in the gymnasium, an officer is stationed in the tear-gas booth with a tear-gas gun.”
Amato explained when an officer pulls a pin, it alerts the arsenal or control room a problem exists. The signal alerts the facility security to the type of problem that exists, such as when a fight or assault is occurring.
Hosie did have a personal alarm on her, but was unable to activate it with the inmate’s blows coming so fast and furious. One of Hosie’s co-workers activated her personal alarm.
“There is a flaw in this system,” Amato said. “Personal alarms also go to the arsenal, but then someone calls to see what the problem is or they send an officer to the area.“
PEF Labor-Management Chair at the state Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) Tom Donahue said a new state-of-the-art, civilian-personal-alarm system is being installed in correctional facilities across the state.
“Wende CF is on the list, but has yet to be installed,” he said
“The response for Leah’s assault was good,” Amato added. “An officer was near the classroom when the assault was taking place. He heard the commotion and actually pulled his pin. It took several people to restrain the inmate.”
Hosie said having one officer in the room could have made all the difference in the world.
PEF Director of Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan Rosen said PEF leaders have recently received several reports about an increase in assaults on members at DOCS.
The union has been working with health and safety committees at DOCS and through an agency-level workplace violence prevention committee to improve violence prevention plans, and to prevent this type of incident from reoccurring.
“It is very important to notify PEF’s Health and Safety Department when there is an assault against staff, so we can assist injured members with workers’ compensation forms and trauma,” Rosen said.