9-7-17 retired youth counselor at lincoln hills speaks out for fellow officers

A retired youth counselor at Lincoln Hills and representative for the union at the youth prison is defending two counselors who are under investigation for speaking publically about their experiences at the facility.   The state Department of Corrections is investigating whether Rita Lokemoen and Kal Teske violated any department policies when they spoke exclusively on AM 1170’s Between the Lines program recently.  Union spokesman Doug Curtis listened to the interview and says Teske and Lokemoen didn’t say anything that would warrant any discipline.   “What they said was very truthful.  The place is incredibly dangerous,”  Curtis told AM 1170 WFDL’s Between the Lines.  “We have everybody watching us.  The FBI is looking over management’s shoulders and our  shoulders, the ACLU is filing lawsuits, and management is looking for someone to blame.”    Curtis says it seems the youth inmates are pushing the envelope even more as the FBI continues to investigate allegations of inmate abuse. at the hands of correctional officers.  “So far we’ve been moving the envelope back and back and back, and they (youth inmates)  keep pushing to find out where the edge is, what they can get away with, what they can get.”    Curtis describes the working conditions at the prison as terrible.  “It puts us in a difficult position because as the rules keep changing nobody knows what to enforce.  Each individual will interpret it a different way because there is not a whole lot of guidance from management.”