70 Year Old Corrections Officer Committed Suicide at Huntsville Prison

Texas corrections officer dies by suicide at Huntsville prison

Houston Chronicle
By Keri Blakinger
February 11, 2019

The death comes less than two years after another officer at a Huntsville-area unit fatally shot himself at work. In that case, fellow workers found the 40-year-old in the guard picket at the Ferguson Unit, with a gunshot wound to the head, The Huntsville Item reported at the time.

A 70-year-old corrections officer died by suicide Monday after shooting himself with his service weapon at a Huntsville prison, officials said.

Authorities did not release the man's name, but said that fellow officers found him around 1 a.m. sitting outside the guard picket at the Wynne Unit.

He was not under investigation and did not have a disciplinary history, according to prison spokesman.
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Lt. Derrick “Bo” Taylor, Corrections Officer Honored After Las Vegas Shooting

Veteran Corrections Officer Killed In Vegas Massacre Remembered As A Hero

CBS Los Angeles

October 7, 2017

BURBANK (CBSLA) — A veteran corrections officer killed in the Las Vegas massacre was welcomed home in true hero fashion Saturday.

Family and colleagues of Lt. Derrick “Bo” Taylor gathered at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, where his body was flown Saturday morning.

On the tarmac, members of the color guard draped a flag over his casket; corrections officers then carefully loaded it into a van as part of a procession in his honor. 

Taylor and his girlfriend, Denise Cohen, of Carpinteria, were among the 59 people shot and killed at the country music festival in Las Vegas.

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Michigan Department of Corrections Officer of Year Helps With PTSD

Devoted union rep helping staff with PTSD is Corrections Officer of the Year
MLive
Danielle Salisbury
March 03, 2017

One of about 6,500 officers in Michigan and nearly 300 at the Cotton prison, she was nominated by a peer; awarded as her facility's officer of the year; and selected state-wide from a pool of five finalists.

Michigan Department of Corrections Officer Cary Johnson

JACKSON, MI - With the exception of the leave she took when her son was born seven years ago, Cary Johnson hasn't called in sick to work in 16 years.

As a representative of her union, she realizes it is important to be exemplary.

"I am making sure the union is credible by being the officer they want me to be," Johnson, 43, said this week.

A corrections officer at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility just outside Jackson, Johnson is a leader and mentor whose work demonstrates care and concern for the well-being of her fellow officers.

For her "integrity and dedication to public safety," Johnson has been named the state's 2017 Corrections Officer of the Year.

She began her career in 1995 and has been a union leader since 1997, currently serving as the only woman on the Michigan Corrections Organization state executive board, according to a statement released by the corrections department and the union.
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Infant Left in Car After Parents Murder-Suicide Deaths

Baby found in car after parents' murder-suicide, Virginia police say
FOX News
July 19, 2016

Virginia police said they found a baby Saturday unhurt in the backseat of a car where the infant's parents died in an apparent murder-suicide.

The Accomack County Sheriff's Office reported in a news release that deputies found 20-year-old Elizabeth Madison Ann Jensen of Sanford and 27-year-old Jonan Fabricio Gonzales-Funes of Bloxom both dead from apparent gunshot wounds inside a vehicle on Saturday morning.

Authorities said Gonzales-Funes was a correctional officer who worked for the sheriff's office since September 2015. He reportedly had served as a Marine.
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Five Ohio Correctional Officers Committed Suicide in One Year

5 suicides by SOCF staff in 1 year
Portsmouth Daily Times
By Frank Lewis
July 15, 2016

“If there had been this many inmates who had committed suicide in a year’s time at one institution, they would have spent countless dollars – hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars – doing investigations to try to find out what the problems were. I only wish the DRC cared as much about the officers and line staff as they do the inmates in these situations.” Randall Hiles

It is, at once, extremely sad and compelling.

On July 1, the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (S.O.C.F.) lost another officer to suicide. If you are counting, that makes five Officers who have committed suicide in a one year period. Three of the officers were currently working at S.O.C.F., one had just recently retired and one former officer, who committed suicide four weeks ago, was on probation and was recently removed when he ended his life, according to Randall Hiles, president of Local 7330 of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA).

“The one officer that just killed himself received a two-day working suspension for absenteeism but he had every minute covered,” Hiles said. “I thought for sure it would be dropped. I’m no saying that’s the main reason he killed himself. I’m saying I know that he was really stressed out over that disciplinary issue. (DRC Director) Gary Mohr and (Managing Director of Operations) Ed Voorhies at the central office, I hope they look at this. I thought they would after the first suicide and take measures to stop this but nothing has been done.”
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Iraq Marine Veteran With PTSD Tormented by Coworkers

Corrections Officer Says PTSD Treated As Joke
Courthouse News
By DAVID KLEIN

March 23, 2015

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CN) - A corrections officer and former Marine was repeatedly discriminated against by his supervisors and co-workers who saw his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as something to ridicule, the Iraq War veteran claims in a lawsuit.

Christopher Fustos served in the Marine Corps in Iraq from February 2004 through November 2007, and was honorably discharged after being wounded in combat. According to the complaint he filed in the Knoxville Federal Court, the wounding was caused by an exploding hand grenade, and the explosion left him with numerous scars on his back.

Fustos was hired by Knox County, Tenn. on March 26, 2012, to work as a corrections officer. He says the discrimination he experienced began just over two years later, when, while working on July 4, a fellow officer yelled, "So Fustos, those scars on your back, are they direction arrows for your boyfriend so he knows where to stick it?"

"During this incident, Mr. Fustos' superiors (Lieutenants) were among the crowd laughing and cheering," the complaint says.

"Multiple incidents of discrimination and harassment occurred thereafter."

Fustos goes on to claim that during another incident his "co-workers took facility-provided gloves, and popped them loudly behind Mr. Fustos' ears, stating, 'Hey, I'm helping you with your PTSD! Its therapy for you!!'"

In addition he says, on two separate occasions stated in front of his fellow officers, "Hey Fustos, when your PTSD kicks in and you shoot up the place, remember who was nice to you and who gives you time off!"
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Seminole jail trainee shot by deputies after corrections officer killed

Seminole jail trainee shot by deputies after corrections officer killed

Gary Taylor

Sentinel Staff Writer

3:07 PM EDT, August 2, 2009


A Seminole County Sheriff's Office trainee, suspected of fatally shooting his female companion, was shot and seriously injured this morning by a deputy from that agency.

Jeff L. Thomas, 45, is in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was airlifted after the shooting in Geneva, Seminole County sheriff's Capt. Dennis Lemma said.

Lemma identified the dead woman as Melanie Lee, 37, a sergeant with the state Department of Corrections, working at the Central Florida Reception Center near Orlando.
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Corrections officer killed

Vermont National Guardsman job denied due to Afghan duty

How is this right? It isn't but it's what members of the National Guards face all over the country. It is especially hard for them in this kind of economy. The regular military, well, they don't have to worry about their jobs while they deploy because they are doing their jobs, but for Guardsmen and Reservists, they have to depend on civilian jobs to take care of their families. Does anyone realize what we are putting these men and women through? You would think that Congress would smarten up and pass some kind of help for them when we keep sending them back to Iraq and Afghanistan leaving them to suffer financially for it.

Prison guard: Job denied due to Afghan duty
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 20, 2009 9:16:01 EDT

SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Several temporary correctional officers at the state prison in Springfield say they were denied permanent jobs because of their pending deployment to Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard.

At least one of the officers is planning to file a complaint against the Vermont Department of Corrections in federal court.

Tim Nolan of Chittenden tells Vermont Public Radio he was hired as a temporary correctional officer last October with the understanding that if he performed well he could become permanent when a spot became available.

Nolan says his new career was on track until he notified officials about his pending deployment.

Corrections officials say they're looking into the situation.

U.S. Sues New York City on Iraq Veteran’s Behalf

April 30, 2009, 6:16 pm
U.S. Sues City on Iraq Veteran’s Behalf
By Jennifer 8. Lee
The federal government sued New York City on Thursday on behalf of an Iraq war veteran who says he was denied a promotion in the city’s Department of Correction because he was on active duty when promotions were being considered.

The veteran, Emilio Pennes, is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, and has worked for the Correction Department since 1987. According to the complaint, he applied for a promotion to deputy warden shortly before he was activated for duty in 2007. He was unable to attend a promotion interview in person, and so was passed over for the promotion even though he had been ranked first in an internal selection memo, the complaint said.

On a previous tour of duty in 2004 and 2005, he served in Iraq, near Tikrit.
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U.S. Sues City on Iraq Veteran’s Behalf

7 reported killed in fiery Ala. crash

7 reported killed in fiery Ala. crash; crews dig through charred wreckage for bodies
By DESIREE HUNTER | Associated Press Writer
12:41 PM EDT, October 3, 2008
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) _ A tractor-trailer and prison van carrying job applicants crashed Friday on a rural highway, and authorities said all seven people believed to be riding in the van died in the fiery wreck.

Prison system spokesman Brian Corbett said the van's driver and six applicants died, based on Department of Corrections records detailing who was traveling in the vehicle. The charred, smoldering van was almost unrecognizable, and hours after the crash grim responders were cutting into the vehicle to recover the bodies.

"The crash was horrendous enough, but the fire added to the tragedy," said Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, who went to the scene.
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PTSD and women prisoners

How Much Progress Can We Make with Our Mothers in Prison?
Posted February 20, 2008 10:25 PM (EST)

Last month, the Department of Justice released an alarming and little known statistic: the population of women prisoners has been growing at twice the rate of men since 1980, and in 2006 it increased at its fastest clip in five years. Because women are often the bedrock of their families and neighborhoods, this trend is damaging to entire communities. We must take immediate steps not only to curb women's rising incarceration rates but also to make sure that once they are released, women have the resources they need so they don't end up back in prison

Histories of sexual and physical abuse. Forty-eight to 88 percent of women inmates suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to prior physical or sexual abuse. Many women also are sexually abused during their incarceration by male prison guards. Not only can these traumas lead to or worsen drug and alcohol dependencies, they can also make holding down a steady job even more difficult than it is for male ex-prisoners, due to memory problems, depression and anxiety disorders.

As of 2004, more than 300,000 children had mothers who were incarcerated. These children are six times more likely to be incarcerated at some point in their lives. If we want to decrease the number of prisoners tomorrow, we have to help the mothers of today.

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