DENVER — Colorado U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper sent a letter to federal officials Monday, urging them to address understaffing and poor working conditions in the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence.
FCC Florence — the nation’s only federal Supermax prison — has been short staffed for more than a year and is currently short by at least 188 staff members, Bennet and Hickenlooper said.
The senators blame the staffing issues for creating an “unsustainable environment” in the prison, including regular forced overtime for employees, and two inmate homicides and six serious assaults in the last year.
“In the past 12 months, (the Bureau of Prisons) reassigned non-custody staff 2,247 times to augment correctional officers, with little to no advance notification. … Fatigue, exhaustion, and low morale have reduced staff productivity and led to more sick leave, retirements and resignations,” said the letter addressed to Director of Bureau of Prisons Colette Peters and Director of U.S. Office of Personnel Management Kiran Ahuja.
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