Local prison guards' safety might be on the line - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Unless Congress acts to stop it, budget cuts will hit programs all over the country, including right here in Southern West Virginia.

That means in the next seven months we'll see about $85 billion in budget cuts. Many Americans will be temporarily laid off, what is being called "furloughs."

Cuts will be made not only to prison guards but also educational programs population control and facility maintenance. The President of local 480 Federal Correctional Institution in McDowell County, Charlie Yates, told 59 News safety is the biggest concern.

"You're talking about a 5 percent decrease in staff before the across-the-board cuts. It's going to be detrimental to security of staff, inmates and community because we are here to protect the community when we are housing inmates," Yates said.

And what this significant decrease in staff equates to is increased inmate misconduct.

"When you go into full or partial lockdowns, you're talking about more idle times for inmates. With increased idle time comes the possibility of more inmate misconduct which leads to violence," said Yates.

President Carver told us what she fears the most is having to walk out of the Institution with one of her guards killed. She says if this passes, safety will be her biggest concern.

"Someone asked me the other day, What's the difference in a ratio of 150 inmates to 1 staff member VS 150 inmates to 2 staff members? The difference is whether you come out alive or not," said President of local 404 FCI in Beckley, Jill Carver.

Yates is also worried for how the sequestration and furloughs will impact the local economy.

At FCI in McDowell County, he said $27 million a year will be lost in salary.

"That equates to about 1.5 Million dollars that we will lose out of the local economy. You're talking about staff not being able to pay their house payments, pay their car payments, put food on their table," said Yates.

The furloughs for our local FCI's would go into by the end of April. Both Yates and Carver encourage the public to reach out to local congressmen and express their concerns.