Coleman Prison in Florida cited, again, for ‘unsafe’ working conditions
OSHA recommends prison buy new gloves after WESH 2 investigation
Published 7:13 PM EDT Jul 21, 2016
Federal officials have cited Central Florida’s Coleman Federal Prison, the largest in the country, for the second time in six months for creating an “unsafe and unhealthful” working condition.
Coleman is a maximum security prison. Behind the barbed wire are murderers, rapists and gang leaders. WESH 2 News spoke with guards, who said they want gloves to keep them safer.
This comes two months after WESH 2 Investigates uncovered issues with the gloves the correctional officers are forced to wear. Several officers have said the gloves are so thick they can’t detect contraband, including hidden weapons, making the gloves useless.
“These gloves they gave us, there’s no way we can do our job correctly,” a Coleman correctional officer told us in May. “If I had the intel that there was an inmate walking this compound right now with a knife in his pocket, I would pat them down without these gloves because I know I would not be able to find them with that glove on.”
Investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration gave the prison a repeat violation for not requiring the officers to wear puncture-resistant gloves and for not having enough for all of the officers to wear; in violation of the prison’s own policy. The gloves put officers at risk, several told us in interviews, because they are too “boxy” to detect hidden weapons and too “bulky” to push the small yellow emergency panic button on the officers' side radios.
OSHA recommended Coleman buy new gloves, which the union has asked for, “in the interest of workplace safe and health,” according to a letter obtained by WESH 2. Officials said the prison should pick something that is “appropriate for employee protection and capable of detecting contraband.”
Federal officials also recommend Coleman “revisit” its workplace violence program to “ensure that needs for detecting contraband are met” and provide training on the use of the gloves.
Coleman has until Aug. 4 to correct the violations. Prison officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.