Correction officers Monday picketed outside of the Mansfield Correctional Institution over safety issues. More than 50 guards participated in the informational picket to help raise awareness about the increasing assaults of guards at the prison, overcrowding and low staffing levels.

Ohio Civil Service Employees Association Local 7010 president Doug Mosier said since March of this year the union has made several requests for the administration to make changes that would ensure the safety of the guards. He said several guards have been assaulted and over the weekend several homemade weapons were found in a cell inside a bag in a mop closet in a housing unit at the prison. Mosier said there have been 43 assaults against guards in the last three months. Mosier said the union has requested a shake down of the institution but nothing has been done.    

Mosier said the staffing levels are also low at the prison. He said to date there are 372 guards and the staffing level should be 399. He said only 12 new guards have been hired. Mosier said many of the guards are also working mandatory 16-hour shifts and three doubles in a row because of low staffing levels.

He said the union wants a safe a environment for the guards.  He said its not about contracts or money.

A source contacted WMFD-TV about several female guards being assaulted at the prison. The source said one female guard was beaten severely and her eardrum was busted.

Mosier said he hopes Gov. Ted Strickland and the administration will come together to address this issue soon. He said he's concerned an inmate riot could take place.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections communications chief Julie Walburn said the department of rehabilitation and corrections takes staff assaults at the prisons very seriously. She said the administration has been working to fill guard positions and hiring corrections officers is a top priority. She said preserving corrections officers positions is the goal. She said the only corrections officers positions abolished were those in conjunction with the closures of the Lima Correctional Institution on June 26, 2004 and the Orient Correctional Institution on April 21, 2002.

Walburn said the assault report numbers given by the union are different from the figures the state has. She said since Aug. 1 there have been 18 assaults at MANCI against staff, 13 of which no employees were injured. She said no weapons were used in the assaults.

Walburn said the administration meets with union officials on a regular basis and will continue to work with the union to resolve these issues.

In October, state officials informed union members that Ohio's prison system plans to lay off 41 employees and eliminate 118 vacant positions. The Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections also plans to close Camp Reams, a boot camp located at the Southeastern Correctional Institution in Lancaster. Officers working at the facility will be reassigned.

 The cuts will take effect Feb. 27 and are expected to save the prison system $16 million.