Union tells Senators: Inside federal prisons, government shutdown is ‘recipe for disaster’

​The head of the union council representing more than 33,000 federal correctional workers nationwide is warning U.S. senators that the government shutdown, now the longest in history, is upending officers’ lives and putting them in greater danger. “We work in an already dangerous and stressful environment, where going to work distracted or fatigued can lead to serious injury or death,” American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals President Eric Young wrote in a Jan. 15 letter to every senator. “As the shutdown enters its fourth week, many of our members are being required to work mandatory overtime, and do so without pay, while many are preoccupied by how they will pay their rent or mortgage, their car payment, or their electric bill. It is a recipe for disaster because a distraction could cost you your life.” Read more here.

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