Guards say prisons not safe for them

(WTNH) - Correction officers in Connecticut say their jobs are too dangerous and that no one is doing anything to help them.

After 18 years as a corrections officer, Harry Harrison nearly lost his life. "They hit me with a couple of shots and I woke up on the ground. They were stomping on my head," he said.

That was in September at the Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, where the state's most dangerous offenders are kept. It is a level-five facility.

"These inmates intended to take my life," Harrison said. "If it wasn't for my partner, I'd be dead."

In December, Officer Peter Kuhlman was slashed in the neck with a razor blade. It missed his jugular by millimeters.

"Oh, he most definitely was trying to kill me, absolutely," Kuhlman said. "Even right now, sitting here telling you, it's a sick, empty feeling."

They are speaking out because they no longer feel safe in their jobs. The union revealed the state eliminated 700 guard positions in 2004. And multiple lawsuits have chipped away at their ability to do their jobs. They can't discipline or even take away privileges.

Everyone gets one-hour of recreation a day, as well as TV, phone calls, visits, mail and commissary, even if they just tried to kill their guard.

Department of Correction Commissioner Brian Murphy would not reveal what the inmate to officer ratio is, but he said they are not short-staffed.

"We review staffing annually and that facility is appropriately staffed for a level-five maximum security facility," Commissioner Murphy said.

The Commissioner said they take each and every incident seriously. But the union said the state is now considering taking away their worker's comp and hazard pay.

"They want more work and less officers," Harrison said. "It's all about money."

Both Harrison and Kuhlman have been so traumatized by these attacks they have not been able to go back to work. One is doing light, administrative duty. The other said he doesn't know if he'll ever be able to walk through the doors of a correction facility again.