Union says privatizing prison jobs violates law

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Gov. George Ryan's plan to turn state prison cafeterias over to private companies would violate state law, says the union that represents workers who would be displaced.

Privatizing cafeterias and commissaries would save $2 million this fiscal year, contends Ryan, who made it part of $485 million in cuts he announced last month to try to balance the state budget.

But the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says it would violate state law that prohibits private prisons. The union also worries that its members would lose jobs and prison security would be jeopardized.

"We are unalterably opposed to the privatization of these services," AFSCME executive director Henry Bayer said. "We'll do all we can on the political front, at the bargaining table and on a legal front to resist this effort."

Avoiding layoffs

And Bayer doubts all of the affected employees, which he estimated at 800 to 1,000, can find other corrections jobs. Ryan's aides said that would be the goal when they announced the budget cuts.

A Ryan representative said Thursday that remains the goal but acknowledged layoffs cannot be ruled out.

"The plan is to avoid the layoffs, but it would be foolhardy to say, 'Never,"' Wanda Taylor said.

The Private Correctional Facility Moratorium Act, adopted in the 1980s, bars private vendors from running prisons. But outside companies may provide services that are not directly related to owning, managing or securing a prison.

AFSCME's contract allows jobs to be privatized, and the Corrections Department says dietary and supply supervisors need not be trained as completely as prison guards although they supervise inmates who work in those areas.

But state law defines a "security employee" as a worker "responsible for the supervision and control of inmates at correctional facilities" and includes non-security workers who are part of a union in which most members have supervisory and control duties.

Corrections spokesman Brian Fairchild said dietary and supply workers are trained to interact with inmates and handle altercations. For a problem that escalates, guards are posted nearby in cafeterias while inmates are eating, he said.

The department already spends $4 million a year for private food service, Fairchild said. An outside company has fed inmates at Joliet Correctional Center since 1982, and a private vendor supplies meals at 10 "adult transition centers," where residents leave to work outside jobs but must report back.

"If you're going to talk about litigation and state statutes, you also have to at least acknowledge the fact that there's contractual language that is also legally binding that provides for us to explore this," Fairchild said. "It says we can do it."

Prison services are privatized to varying degrees in 38 states, Fairchild said.

As for finding jobs for displaced commissary and dietary employees, AFSCME must help the department, he said.

AFSCME has argued for several years for more correctional officers at what it says are understaffed prisons. But Bayer said the state can't save money by transferring displaced employees into prison guard slots.