Posted on 09/04/2003 5:36:37 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Correctional officers at state correctional institutions, including the two located in Luzerne County, have been ordered to remove American flag and yellow ribbon pins from their uniforms.
The order from Secretary of Corrections Jeffrey A. Beard on Sept. 2 has upset many correctional officers who wore the stars and stripes and yellow pins to show support for military personnel fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"No one wants to get fired, but it's a matter of principle," said Jim Chernavage, business agent for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association.
Beard said in his order that the responsibility of the department of corrections is to maintain the care, custody and control of inmates, not for correctional officers to take positions on political issues.
Beard also said there might be some correctional officers that might be against military action overseas.
"In order to respect the right of all employees to exercise their rights in an appropriate manner as they seem fit, I cannot require them to wear such a pin," Beard said in his order. "Making such a pin optional may have a chilling effect on their rights because they may feel unduly pressured to do so."
Correctional officers at the State Correctional Institution at Greene staged a rally when they were threatened with disciplinary action over the wearing of the pins, said Chernavage and Phil Pascoe, president of the local PSCOA at SCI-Dallas.
Chernavage and Pascoe said officers were not going to be permitted to enter the institution at SCI-Greene if they wore the pins.
The officers rallied together wearing either or both the American flag and the yellow ribbon pins when they arrived for work at the same time.
"They couldn't send them all home," Chernavage said.
And a correctional officer at SCI-Waymart faced termination because he refused to remove the American flag pin from his uniform.
Pascoe, who just returned from a 21-month tour of duty in Qatar and Afghanistan, said the wearing of the American flag and yellow ribbon pins began at SCI-Greene about two years ago.
Other state correctional institutions followed soon after American troops and correctional officers who have been called to active duty became involved with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Pascoe said before any correctional officer at SCI-Dallas began to wear the pins, he received permission from Superintendent Thomas Levan.
At first, only a small number of correctional officers wore the pins that were purchased on their own.
However, the local PSCOA at SCI-Dallas spent $380 for 510 American flag pins four months ago for correctional officers who wanted to wear the pins.
About two weeks ago, Pascoe said he was summoned to a meeting with SCI-Dallas Deputy Superintendent James McGrady, who told him the pins could no longer be worn on uniforms.
"The order came down from central office, not from the local administration who gave us permission and were supportive," Pascoe said. "I was told by wearing the pins, it directly violated the uniform policy."
Susan McNaughton, press secretary for the DOC, said non-uniformed staff are permitted to wear the pins.
Correctional officers do wear an American flag patch on their right sleeve, but Chernavage and Pascoe said the flag should be sewn onto the left sleeve with the stars facing frontward.
"We've raised that issue many times in the past, but nothing from Harrisburg seems to correct the problem," Chernavage said.
If some of these guys are that gutless, they're sure as heck in the wrong line of work.
Similar story back in April: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/885877/posts
For heaven's sake even our own president wears a flag pin. This has got to be some kind of power struggle or ego problem.
Most people in this line of work have them.
Banning free expression to protect free expression, classic doublethink, and another extension of Amendment XYZ. Lefties have long equated criticism and disagreement with oppression, now it seems that the mere expression of a contrary position is equal to oppression.
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