PHOENIX — The union representing Arizona correctional officers said the sexual assault of a guard raises questions about whether officer safety is being jeopardized by low prison staffing.
The spokesman for the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association said Monday that Corrections Department Director Charles Ryan is making chronic understaffing worse by firing some officers when lesser punishments are possible.
It isn't clear if understaffing played a role in the April 13 attack at the state prison complex in Yuma. It was the second sexual assault on a state prison employee in the last 18 months.
The Department of Corrections acknowledged the assault by an inmate with a history of assaults late Friday.
Union spokesman Robert Blackmer says the inmate choked a female guard and was removing her clothes when other officers intervened.