http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/ny-bc-ny--marthastewart-cor1004oct04,0,7119558.story?coll=sfla-business-headlines


By ALLISON BARKER and APRIL VITELLO
Associated Press Writers

October 4, 2004, 2:58 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Budget cuts and staffing shortages will make it difficult to protect Martha Stewart at the minimum security prison where she will serve five months for lying to federal investigators, the union representing correction officers there said Monday.

"During the day there is one officer for 550 inmates," said Kent Gilkerson, a correction officer at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in southeastern West Virginia and local president of the Council of Prison Locals. "At night there's two."

Stewart has until 2 p.m. Friday to report to Alderson to begin serving her sentence.

"She's a high-profile inmate and we are not going to guarantee we can keep an eye on her 24-7," said Phil Glover, national president of the Council of Prison Locals.

Gilkerson attributed the drop in staffing to federal budget cuts, and said Alderson has 35 correction officers compared to 60 four years ago. The prison houses about 1,000 inmates.

Glover alleged that inmates are left unattended and duties such as screening phone calls and grounds construction are not performed because other staff have to fill in for prison guards.

Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, did not immediately respond Monday to the allegations. She also did not know how many people were employed at Alderson or how many vacancies there were.

The union, which is part of the American Federation of Government Employees, plans to hold a news conference Thursday in Charleston to discuss staffing at Alderson and other federal prisons.

Glover said the problems are systemwide.

"We end up pulling these people to work security, make sure housing units have shakedowns daily and make sure they (inmates) live in a decent environment," he said.

"Some things get left by the wayside. It's like a domino effect."

Stewart, 63, and former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic were convicted in March of lying to federal investigators about why Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock in December 2001. They received the same sentence _ five months in prison, plus five months of house arrest.

There are no gates or fences at the Alderson prison and most days anyone can drive straight to the warden's home located on the 105-acre compound. Since last week when officials confirmed Stewart was destined for Alderson, a correction officer has been stationed at the entrance to turn back reporters and the curious.

The American Federation of Government Employees said staffing at 105 federal prisons is at its lowest levels in 14 years.

"The funny thing is, there was an outrage that at Abu Ghraib (the military prison in Iraq) one soldier was watching 500 inmates," Glover said. "They (the Bush administration) need to look at their own federal prison system."
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-marthastewart-prison1005oct05,0,493611.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

Bureau of Prisons says W.Va. camp is safe for Stewart and all inmates

By the Associated Press

October 5 2004

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The U.S. Bureau of Prisons says the West Virginia prison camp where Martha Stewart will serve a five-month sentence is safe and secure, contradicting a union official who decried staffing shortages.

Bureau spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said Tuesday that although there are some vacant positions at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp, the 44 officers working there now "are adequate to protect all offenders at that facility." She did not immediately know how many vacancies there are.

Phil Glover, national president of the Council of Prison Locals, which represents 26,000 federal prison employees nationwide, said there are only 35 to 40 correction officer positions at the 1,000-inmate prison, down from 60 in the late 1990s.

Billingsley denied union claims that Alderson inmates are sometimes left unattended and that the shortages will make it difficult to protect Stewart.

Stewart, who was convicted of lying to federal investigators about a stock sale, has until 2 p.m. Friday to report to the minimum-security camp to begin serving her sentence. The home fashion mogul is continuing to appeal her conviction.

I think these people need to get their stories straight! Probably asking the impossible! :)

And, shouldn't they worry about being able to "protect" all the inmates housed there, and not just Martha?

Again, probably asking the impossible.

You are SO right about the protection of everyone. One life is not worth more or less than another.

Also, if there are so many budget cuts, why not cut loose some of the inmates that are not a risk to society?

I don't know - I'm probably the only one on PTO that feels this way, but that whole Martha Stewart thing just seemed so ridiculous to me. I can't even imagine how many hungry children THAT trial would've fed. ARGH!!!!

Just a thought, and I thought this many this my 18 months at Alderson. Isn't the whole idea of a "camp" ridiculous? If you qualify for camp status and even qualify to work off the compound itself (one inmate actually drove inmates who were discharged to the Greyhound station 50 miles away on a daily basis) why are you even there? Why aren't you at home on home-confinement, or monitored, or at a halfway house? Why the expense of a camp?

I agree TOTALLY. What is the point??? Wasting taxpayers dollars or "making" jobs? Hell, I don't know, but it's sounds pretty ridiculous to me!!

I mean seriously, if you took people out of jail/prison that were not a risk to society, not a "flight risk" and had already learned their lesson just through the humility of the process, the "vacancy" sign would be lit up!