GUARDS AGREE TO DRUG TESTS

State Eyes Mandatory Firing For Prison Guards Who Fail The Tests
Once

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois prison guards say they are reluctantly willing
to accept being fired the first time they test positive for drugs as
long as they can be sure the test is foolproof.

"People could lose their jobs over a bad test," said Darrell
Robertson, a Taylorville Correctional Center guard and the local union
president. "That's been the concern. Can we trust the test to be 100
percent accurate?"

A tentative contract agreement reached last week between the state and
its largest union abolishes the current three-strikes-and-you're-out
rule for Department of Corrections employees using drugs.

The state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees have agreed to negotiate with the Corrections Department
about how to ensure accuracy if the union's 44,000 members statewide
- -- including 14,000 in Corrections -- approve the contract in coming
weeks.

"We have an agreement with them to revamp their testing procedures, to
make them as fair and accurate as they possibly can be," Henry Bayer,
AFSCME Council 31 executive director, said.

Corrections spokesman Nic Howell declined comment until the union
votes on the contract.

Among current problems that concern union members are confidentiality
for those tested, eliminating mix-ups of urine samples and the policy
of counting a test as positive if the employee can't give a urine
sample within three hours or the sample is weak.

Guards argue the current, 2-year-old system works: A positive drug
test results in a 15-day suspension the first time, a 30-day layoff
the second and dismissal the third. About 20 percent of the work force
is randomly tested annually.

Two years ago, 3.4 percent of approximately 15,700 department
employees tested positive for drugs; the number dropped to 2.5 percent
last year.

"It's not because people are not getting caught, it's because people
are getting the point," Chuck Stout, a Jacksonville Correctional
Center guard, said. "They're getting the point that you can't use
drugs and work for the Department of Corrections."

The Illinois State Police drug test policy resembles the one being
considered for prison workers. About 20 percent of 2,080 officers are
randomly tested yearly and troopers typically are fired after one
positive test, spokesman Mark McDonald said.

AFSCME was under political pressure to accept a "one-strike"
policy.

The state Senate passed a bill that required firing employees who
tested positive once. The union was able to stall it in the House,
arguing that the issue should be negotiated in the contract, but the
writing was on the wall.

"If we didn't do it, the Senate and the House were going to cram it
down our throat, and then we were going to have no way to negotiate
over the impact," Stout said.

Rep. Cal Skinner, R-Crystal Lake, called the pressure of the Senate
bill "the greatest legislative success of the session. This is a giant
step toward a drug-free prison system."

Skinner released drug-testing statistics in March that showed a
greater percentage of guards than inmates tested positive for drugs at
one-third of the state's 27 major prisons.

Kevin King, a guard and local union president at Tamms Correctional
Center, said some people who use drugs don't admit to having a problem
until they get caught.

"I'm not a drug user and I'm not in favor of drug users, but people
deserve at least a second chance," King said.