Ted Strickland: “before coming to Congress I did serve for 6 years at Ohio's only maximum security prison in Lucasville, OH, and I can…”

“before coming to Congress I did serve for 6 years at Ohio's only maximum security prison in Lucasville, OH, and I can tell the Members that the job of a corrections officer is a difficult and a dangerous one. In 1991, there were 10,192 inmate assaults against staff in correctional institutions. I would point out to my colleagues that if they vote for the Schiff amendment, they will be eliminating the Strickland amendment which passed last week as part of the en bloc amendment. My amendment requires States to provide appropriate training in dealing with repeat violent offenders. Such training will save lives. It ought not to be eliminated. If we are going to provide grants to States to incarcerate society's most difficult individuals, the very least we can do is to make sure that they provide the appropriate training so that those who guard them can do so safely. With this crime bill, we are putting more violent people behind bars. In doing so, let us not endanger the courageous men and women who we charge with guarding them.”