Department of Corrections takes immediate safety measures in response to officer’s death

In response to the death of correctional officer Jayme Biendl last Saturday, the Department of Corrections announced today that it is taking immediate steps to increase the safety of its employees.

The DOC said it will make the following changes:

- Prisons will begin counting staff members whenever an offender cannot be accounted for.

- Response and Movement Officers will begin monitoring single-officer posts on a periodic basis.

- Prisons will conduct drills on the use of silent alarms that are on all hand-held radios.

- The agency will no longer have one-day modified lockdowns in all eight major prisons. The agency began the pre-planned lockdowns in November so that additional staff members would have temporary layoffs.

“We will take every action we can to make prisons safer for our staff,” said Secretary Eldon Vail. “These are only the initial actions that we will pursue immediately. We will make additional changes once we conduct a thorough review of all our policies and procedures.”

This Sunday would have been Biendl’s 35th birthday. A moment of silence for her is planned on that day, at 1:35 in all 13 prisons. The memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. at Comcast Arena in Everett.

Tags: department of corrections