Why is House Arrest so SLOW? For years now it gets harder and harder to Bond some one out. The Judge sets a bond with house arrest,Ok now you get to the jail ask for your person, and your on the phone to House Arrest at the same time and give both the info needed to post a bond. Your at the jail at 5:00pm calling House Arrest and keeping up on the Records Clerk at Jail. were sitting it out…. 7:45 you call up at the jail to see whats up? They are just waiting for House Arrest to get the fax. Time passes Slowy 8:01pm we call House Arrest, Now they say they cant do it . its after 8:00pm we can come back at 6:00am.
This has happend over and Over again. It has NOT always been this way. The House Arrest Department is located within the Adult Residential Center, and operates on a 24-hour basis. “they do not have any one trained to set up the House Arrest equipment”; This has been the story Ive got for YEARS. Than TRAIN SOME ONE! I do not get paid by the hour. Only by what I get out. so my time is useless to HOUSE ARREST. and if a Judge sets a bond can House Arrest say other wise to his release? when the jail is ready and the Judge says ok then House should have some one there. is their a Lawer in the House? or can we vote whoever OUT to get this fixed! Johnson County Kansas

Finally someone whoe isn’t stuck inside of their own agency. Not all agencies are the same being in a right to work state and in law enforcement we don’t get the same priveleges as a unionized agency. No breaks. But we dont get information on offenders medical unless a serious incident were to ocurr and only after the fact. My wife was stuck with a dirty needle at our states max. They told her when the inmate went through intake a year earlier he was clean but they refused to have the offender tested at the time of her stick.

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In response to Illinois Won…, Squeeze is right about federal laws not applying to some career fields. The way it was explained to me was that those laws apply mainly to the general workforce but not public service fields like EMS, FD, PD, SO, security, or corrections because of the nature of our jobs. I started out in private security then moved to corrections and have worked corrections in 2 states and never had a designated lunch break. We eat when we get a chance to eat and always on the clock because at any moment something could break loose. My facility provides the meals so we usually have the rover officer bring us something, but it doesn’t always happen.

IF we have a back up Officer the pod Officers don’t have to wait until count lockdowns to use the restroom!

That’s scandalous!

I’d LOVE to work an eight hour shift with no lunch break ! I’ve been working 13 hr shifts since 1993 and we’re allowed a fifteen (yes 15) minute break once a day for a supplied lunch. IF we have a back up Officer the pod Officers don’t have to wait until count lockdowns to use the restroom !

In the institution I worked in if you were held over you would get relieved a few minutes early to take care of issues you may need to address. If you are a smoker you were allowed to leave the facility so that you could smoke. When I worked inside I would much rather do me eight and hit the gate anyway. Now that I am a PO I pretty much set my schedule so it is a non issue.

I’ve worked straight eights for so long that getting a break is no longer an issue. Policy states we are to be provided a 15 minute break if we’re froze but it doesn’t happen (if I’m froze that means there is a bare minimum to run the shift and there isn’t anyone available to relieve me). At one time the brass offered anyone who got froze a cold prison balogna sandwich and, while most of us appreciated the thought, we said no thanks… we’d rather do without. A rover will eventually be able to make a vending machine run for those of us who are froze.

I stand corrected on the one part and that is if the inmate has a contagous conditition thats spreadable by airborn means then we will not transport by a state van but by squad and notification is given and posted to warn persons in close proximity. I was also told that they now will inform you if you are involved in a use of force or say you got stuck by a needle,(after the fact) that the person has a condition but other than that they are not required you tell you anything.

While we have a union (FOP00) in our facility and are curently on an extended contract (ended 07/01/09) the issue of breaks has only been brought to the attention of the negotiators once. At one time the admin asked the union what they though of 12 hour shifts. The union agreed to a pilot trial period in the old part of the jail attatched to the courthouse. The provisions were a 1/2 hour break (paid) somewjere in the middle of that shift. When the pilot period concluded the officers overwhelmingly wanted to return to 8 hr shift with no set break period. I as a classification officer back then did reciewv 1/2 hour lunch break but found I was working most of those and decided to just work the 8. Later we were addee dto the bargaining unit and worked just the 8. Our admin has been very flexible with the time off post for small breaks as needed and didn’t believe the need for designated non-paid breaks. When I worked in Oregon Stae facilitry it was the opposite. Maybe the difference is state prison vs county jail. I was a deputy in Wa state back in the 80’s and our jail staff preferred a straight 8. Wa is a closed shop state as well as not a right to work state.

A county in nebraska. The issue if you read the statute indicates that the HIPPA exemption may not supercede a state statute that may be more restrictive. However you can always go the legal route and make a motion for discovery pertaining to that particular incident. I am not sure if a state can force a blood test for pathogens. However I was involved in an altercation with an inmate and was tested for 6 months courtesy of the institution. But that was pre-HIPPA. I will research this issue further. It seems to me that a “victim” should have right to protected health information on an inmate in circumstances such as yours. Given proper protection of that information of course once disseminated to the victin.

Thanks Squeeze,

Finally someone whoe isn’t stuck inside of their own agency. Not all agencies are the same being in a right to work state and in law enforcement we don’t get the same priveleges as a unionized agency. No breaks. But we dont get information on offenders medical unless a serious incident were to ocurr and only after the fact. My wife was stuck with a dirty needle at our states max. They told her when the inmate went through intake a year earlier he was clean but they refused to have the offender tested at the time of her stick.

Squeeze what state are you with?

164.512

5) Correctional institutions and other law enforcement custodial situations.

(i) Permitted disclosures. A covered entity may disclose to a correctional institution or a law enforcement official having lawful custody of an inmate or other individual protected health information about such inmate or individual, if the correctional institution or such law enforcement official represents that such protected health information is necessary for:

(A) The provision of health care to such individuals;

(B) The health and safety of such individual or other inmates;

© The health and safety of the officers or employees of or others at the correctional institution;

(D) The health and safety of such individuals and officers or other persons responsible for the transporting of inmates or their transfer from one institution, facility, or setting to another;

(E) Law enforcement on the premises of the correctional institution; and

(F) The administration and maintenance of the safety, security, and good order of the correctional institution.

(ii) Permitted uses. A covered entity that is a correctional institution may use protected health information of individuals who are inmates for any purpose for which such protected health information may be disclosed.

(iii) No application after release. For the purposes of this provision, an individual is no longer an inmate when released on parole, probation, supervised release, or otherwise is no longer in lawful custody

I will look up the exemption clause and quote it to you!

Sorry but you do not have the right to know about a Inmates heath related problems be it bloodborne pathogens or anything else, I was a transportation officer for a few years and now work in the infirmary at our Correctional institution for our State.
The universal precaution applies to us. We are all ways being told to treat the patient as if he or she has HEP/HIV ect…. The VA hospital I worked for also taught us that way. thats the way it’s been done since HIV became known and our fears of catching it came up.

No disagreement on that point. But we have access to health information on inmates that other employees of non law enforcement personel don’t have. Protecting an inmates health information is not what I am talking about. For an illustration I can access through proper channels health information that is privilaged and not accessable to say a school teacher in the context of their job. Should I be exposed to bloodborne pathogens while working in a correction facility i have a right to that information. Yes we practice universal precautions but I still have a legal right to pertinent health information on that inmate. Keep in mind we are talking in context of law enforcement and corrections. If you want to discuss the broader issues in general public we can go there to as i have worked security in a local hosptal for 20 years as well as corrections. Ther are also rules that govern medical issues if your med services are contracted and accredited throught the NCCHC or ACA accreditation. So my statement that we are exempt from HIPPA is strictly in the context of access to that pertinant information given certain circumstances. Does that clear things up?

I won’t argue about the labor laws. You can be patronizing and espouse your opinion all you want to, but when you make a statement that is absolutely wrong you are putting others at major risk. We are not “exempt from HIPPA laws.” We are required to protect the privileged healthcare information of inmates with the same considerations and consequences as healthcare providers in the public sector, subject to discharge (being fired), along with potentially severe civil liabilities for violations. We have access to privileged health information for inmates as it relates to our duties. That DOES NOT exempt us from HIPPA laws. You are just wrong about that. No two ways about it. If I take an inmate on a med writ, it is a direct violation of HIPPA laws for me to say a word to another C/O (or anybody else, for that matter) about the medical reason, tests, or results of that writ. Likewise, if you have an exposure, healthcare staff is directly in violation of HIPPA laws if they tell you that your exposure has increased likelihood of disease threat. I’ve heard that you can sometimes get information about your exposure, but it is not legal. That is why law enforcement and corrections employees are supposed to practice “universal precautions”…because EVERY INMATE HAS THE PACKAGE.

IW

Sorry folks. Federal Laws do not apply to certain carrer fields. Don’t mistakes general rules for accross the board. I challenge anyone to show me a Federal statute, mandate etc… that states everyone gets a break. I live in a right to work state and we don’t get regular breaks at our county. Some state facilities do because of contractual agreements.Law enforcement and corrections are one of those career fields exempt. Just as we are exempt from HIPPA laws. Even the legislators congressmen/senators exempt themselves from labor laws.r

I work at a 800+ county facility in PA, all our officers have at least two 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break, all on the clock. It is also in the union countract that the facility provide the lunch meal.

Illinois,

I have been out of the prisons for about three years now and on the streets but when I left officers went to their unit at the beginning of shift and left at the end. It is the same at every facility in the state. They also require you to be on your post ten minutes early for which you are not paid. There may be federal laws that say it shouldn’t happen that way what I am saying is that this is how it works here. There are also overtime laws out there and they don’t mind by those either. Its been this way for decades and will probably never change.

Mick are you guys hiring?! I could probably talk my wife into moving to Ireland.
I only work 8-5 now, and don’t have to be relieved for a break, but I remember when I was just a C.O. there were times we’d go a whole 12 hour shift without being given a break. It wasn’t because our supervisors were @$&holes or anything, we just didn’t have the people to relieve anyone for a break. The shift Lt. had a sack lunch sent to everyone on shift, but that was all we got sometimes. None of us cried about Labor laws either. We knew when we took the job that stuff like that could happen and we accepted it because that was the line of work we were in. The new boots running around here now have no idea what it was like back then and complain if they don’t get 2 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break.

I find it unbelievable in this day and age that you would have to work without a lunch break. We have 3 official breaks during the day. First is the Breakfast break 30mins then we get 1hr for lunch and 40 mins in the evening for Tea Break.

Read your contract. Either the one agreed to by your union or the one you signed when you were hired. Most deparments put in a line about how you agrre to work straight 8 without a formal lunch break. That’s how they get around it. You signed on the line and agreed to it and no one forced it on you. That’s how they bypass many of the afformentioned Federal laws.

Working in a right to work state doesn’t have anything to do with Federal Labor Laws. Working in a right to work state just means they cannot force you to join a union to work. Federal Labor laws are across the board unavoidable. They are as nationally universal as OSHA and the IRS.

If you are in a right to work state like Idaho you have no protection and no real recourse so you get what you get.

States HAVE TO…….. repeat HAVE TO……. follow Federal Labor Laws…no way around it…..you might want to look into it. Again, I am no expert. States have an amazing way of avoiding their own state laws, but they can not avoid federal labor laws.

IW