The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

    And that¹s an improvement.

    "The numbers are staggering," said Department of Correction Commissioner Kathleen M. Dennehy, who has been cracking down on sick time abuse since she was appointed in 2003.

    Sick time use by correction officers has actually come down about 15 percent under Dennehy.

    In 2004, correction officers took a total of 62,012 sick days or roughly 17.3 days per officer, DOC statistics show. Last year, the officers averaged 14.9 days per year or three weeks of sick time.

    Roughly 3,500 correction officers work in the state prison system and their union contract allows them 15 sick days a year, including five unsubstantiated days that don¹t require a doctor¹s note, said Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Corrections Officers Federated Union.

    "As far as I¹m concerned, if there were 100,000 sick days, as long as the doctor signed off that is an authorized absence," he said.
    Dennehy acknowledges DOC management has not addressed the problem aggressively enough in past years.

    "We as an agency have to accept some of the responsibility for not having vigilantly monitored these numbers over the years," Dennehy said. "The vast majority of the staff don¹t abuse sick time."

    But correction officers have faced tough discipline under her command. Fourteen officers were disciplined last year, including one officer who worked at MCI-Norfolk. The $54,000-a-year officer was terminated after taking 256 sick days.

    Dennehy has referred seven cases in the past two years to Attorney General Tom Reilly for possible criminal prosecution.

    The Massachusetts numbers are significantly disproportionate to state prison systems that employ the same number of officers. For instance, in Colorado last year the 3,525 correction officers used 20,316 sick days - meaning Massachusetts officers used over 2.5 times the amount of sick days.

    High sick time usage was highlighted as an issue by two panels convened by Romney to revamp the entire state prison system. More correction officers call in sick at MCI-Cedar Junction, one of the state¹s two maximum security prisons, than any other facility.

    Kenneway said Walpole is the most difficult facility to work in.
    ³Walpole is, bar none, the most violent facility in the Northeast to work in. There is a feeling of dread when you go to work there because you never know what the next eight hours will bring.My hat¹s off to those guys because they do a fantastic job keeping the level of violence down,² Kenneway said.

     He said the union does not brook abuse of sick time and blames understaffing for the high numbers.

    ³We are far more serious than we have been given credit for about this sick time stuff. When I am working a block, I want my partner next to me,² Kenneway said. ³But they can¹t even cover the vacations anymore. They don¹t have the staff to work these prisons.²