COURANT: Sick, Transparent Attempt by Jail Guards to Keep their Make-Work Work

[Kathleen]

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Subject: COURANT: Sick, Transparent Attempt by Jail Guards to Keep
their Make-Work Work

Date: Nov 23, 2010 2:34 AM

ARTICLE BELOW
=============================================

Sad that the Courant can't see through
this strategy. On the other hand, the Courant
has descended into little other than a crime
blog.

It's also true that the guards believe it
is their job to provoke fights in order to
claim 72 hours overtime per "code."

The jail guards' union is afraid of budget
cuts and the result: Many will have to find
actual work for the first time in their lives.

Next we will hear from the other Dot Guv
unions, like DCF, DMHAS, and the State Police.

*Nothing* is going to absolve them of making
human hamburger out of the already-oppressed.

They all know better.


KMDickson
http://www.actionlyme.org
==============================

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-cold-case-decks-1123-20101122,0,382745.story

Advertisement

Gloria Bell stood at a podium Monday morning and talked about the
unsolved shooting death of her 34-year-old son in Hartford five years
ago.

Behind her were several enlarged playing cards with pictures of
missing persons or victims of unsolved homicides, including Bell's son
— Edward "Little Man" Bell Jr.

"I'm like a dead woman walking. So if anyone knows something, please
come forward," Bell said during a press conference at the Chief
State's Attorney's Office.

The cards are part of a new program in Connecticut meant to generate
tips from prison inmates.

The Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice, the Department of
Correction and law enforcement agencies created a deck of playing
cards that feature 52 unsolved homicides, missing persons and cases of
unidentified remains from throughout the state.

The $12,000 program is funded by property that had been forfeited in
criminal cases, officials said.

Cards will be distributed free to the roughly 18,500 inmates currently
in DOC custody. Afterward, inmates can pay 64 cents for a deck.

"Our hope is this program will generate tips or leads. In every one of
these cases, somebody knows something," said Chief State's Attorney
Kevin Kane.

Each card has a picture of the missing person or victim, along with a
little background about the case and phone number that people can call
to to leave anonymous tips.

Although the cards are not being made available to the public, the
full deck can be viewed on the DOC website at http://www.ct.gov/doc.
Officials are considering expanding the program to halfway houses.

Several states have been using their own cold-case playing decks.

Florida's program, inspired by a similar program used by the U.S.
military in Iraq, started in that state's county jails. It was
implemented in prisons statewide in 2007, said Heather Smith,
spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Arrests were made in two homicides a few months later as a result, she
said.

"This is all about getting information into the hands of inmates,
putting thousands of decks of cards in their hands and creating a buzz
about the cases," Smith said.

In Connecticut, Lisa Mellow is hoping that the cards will help her
find out what happened to her sister, Erika Cirioni. The 26-year-old
mother of two disappeared in December of 2006.

"We just want to know where she is. We assume the worst, we just want
closure," Mellow said.


KMDickson