9/4/25 Special Bulletin
MCO members,
As you all know, the drug problem in the prisons is out of control. The widespread presence of paper saturated with drug substances is a direct threat to officer safety. In the past two weeks alone, 4 corrections officers at ARF and 1 officer at SRF were sent out for medical treatment after direct exposure to smoke and residue from these substances. There was another at IBC in June, and we know there are likely others that have not yet been reported to us.
INFO NEEDED– I am asking all of you to send in details of any exposure incidents that you were already involved in or are aware of, and any that occur from today’s date forward. The Department does not report these incidents to MCO, so we must report it ourselves. You can report incidents by phone at 517-485-3310, via email to reports@mco-seiu.org or by giving the info to your local elected MCO reps.
I have requested a meeting with the Department to address our concerns on this topic and seek solutions to the problem. The obvious solution is to stop allowing paper materials to be sent to prisoners through the mail and provide those materials to them either by email or photocopy, which we will inquire about. I will send an update after the meeting.
Also, all of you are seeing and dealing with prisoners that are under the influence of these substances all day every day, becoming unresponsive, uncontrollable, and assaultive. Several have recently died from overdosing on these substances, resulting in officers being placed under investigation. All of you have become accustomed to these incidents and in many cases are making your own decisions on whether to report the prisoners to shift command and healthcare staff. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you protect yourself by reporting these incidents with prisoners under the influence of something EVERY TIME you see it. When these prisoners die using these substances, the Department will not hold back on investigating rounds made, camera footage, and logbooks. Do not let shift command or healthcare staff deter you from reporting these incidents, it’s your job on the line. If you report an incident and no action is taken by shift command or healthcare, log it in the book.
B. Osborn
MCO President