Correctional Officers Union: Lack of discipline, drugs, violence plague ACI

CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — Following recent incidents of violence and inmate deaths at the ACI, the correctional officers’ union is calling for change and new leadership.

“Until last year, I used to say it’s the safest, best-run prison in the country, and I don’t necessarily feel that way now,” said Richard Ferruccio, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers.

According to Ferruccio, changes made by Acting Director Wayne Salisbury are affecting the safety of correctional officers and inmates.

“Last week we had multiple fights, multiple incidents,” Ferruccio explained. “At one point the intake service center went into a lockdown because there were three separate fights and three staff got hurt.”

Tuesday night, another correctional officer was assaulted.

Meanwhile, Ferruccio said the maximum punishment inmates can get is 30 days in disciplinary confinement, but it used to be up to a year.

“Inmates feel there’s no discipline, no penalty,” Ferruccio said. “It’s like tomorrow if we said we’re not going to arrest people for breaking into houses, do you think people are going to stop breaking into houses?”

“The predatory inmates are preying on the other inmates,” he continued, “They’re starting to shake them down, they’re starting to steal and there’s no penalty for it, and it’s making our job tougher.”

Ferruccio said drug dealing and drug use are up with few repercussions, especially of K2, which comes in on paper and is leading to overdoses inside.

According to the union, in January there was a more than 200% increase in use of force cases versus in January of 2023.

Use of force is when an officer has to take physical action against an inmate or use pepper spray.

The ACI is down about 82 correctional officers, and, with staff sensing conditions getting more dangerous, more are retiring.

“We’re not competitive, you know, comparing us to the police departments for hiring of correctional officers,” Ferruccio explained. “So these types of problems happening at the prison also make it difficult for us to recruit and retain people because a lot of guys are saying I can’t take it anymore.”

Public Information Officer J.R. Ventura told ABC 6 News that recent incidents are not related to policy changes, which went into effect in August of last year as a result of litigation and mediation with a federal court.

Ventura’s statement to ABC 6 News reads in part:

“Most incidents that occur inside secure facilities, start in the streets and continue behind the walls; it’s a systemic problem our communities have had for decades.”

ABC 6 news asked RIDOC for an interview with Acting Director Wayne Salisbury, but Ventura said he was out of state and unable to sit down with us.