Southern Illinois prison staff to join statewide demonstration today

Employees of two dozen Illinois prisons are scheduled to demonstrate across the state today, including workers at the Shawnee and Vienna Correctional Centers.

Union members of AFSCME Council 31 will be out to draw attention to their request for safer working conditions. They say that state prisons are short-staffed; staff are increasingly exposed to dangerous narcotics and toxic substances; and violent assaults on staff are too common.

Recent reports said several southern Illinois staff members have been sent to the hospital after experiencing severe reactions while opening prisoner mail. In September, a group of southern Illinois lawmakers sent a letter to the Illinois Department of Corrections asking to suspend non-legal mail to prisoners until new protocols could be developed.

Today's demonstration in Vienna will take place at First and Vine Streets at about 3:30 p.m.