Workers Call New Hampshire Prisons Unsafe

The State Employees Association says the state’s prisons are overcrowded, understaffed, and dangerous for inmates and workers alike.

The Department of Corrections is handing out 32 pink slips – fewer than the union had feared, but more than they want.

Officer Mark Jordan works at the Concord State Prison.

“We had two stabbings about a month and a half ago and the other night we had an attempting stabbing where the individual he tried to stab broke his jaw. And the day before that we had an inmate have his skull fractured.”

Jordan says incidents like these are a direct result of understaffing, which will worsen if there are more layoffs.

Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Lyons says in a prison environment, incidents like these are commonplace.

But he does say that over the last five years, the inmate population has grown, but the number of employees has not.

The Concord Prison, which was built for 900 inmates, now houses 1600.

In the 500-bed Berlin prison, there are now 730 inmates.