BEAUMONT -
Correctional officers are ordinary citizens who work extraordinary jobs. Every day, they walk into the federal prisons that they say are overcrowded with criminals.
The correctional officers jobs could be slashed; meaning more inmates and less officers because of the possibility of budget cuts
"We're basically cut to the bone," says Chris Bertrand, a senior officer at Beaumont's federal prisons.
Beaumont's federal prisons are about to take another hit after many years of spending cuts and several years of pay freezes,
Currently, there's a staff of 900 who oversee 9,000 inmates. Officers say the ratio is unbalanced.
"We have two officers on the yard watching 600 inmates," says Bertrand.
Two officers watching hundreds of inmates and just one officer overnight monitoring overflowing cells.
"There can be three in a cell. Sometimes, more than that. Also, inmates sleep in TV rooms and they sleep in areas not designed for inmate living," says Jason VanDeHoef, who is also a senior officer.
Running out of room, the federal prisons could soon turn into a danger zone.
"It makes it more dangerous for us. It makes it more dangerous to the public because escapes are possible," says VanDeHoef.
For their protection, they say defense is scarce.
"A mall cop has more on them than we do. We just have our keys, our radio and our hands," says Bertrand.
They're asking for better protection, recently lobbying at Capitol Hill, with papers they hope will send a message to Congress that more needs to be done.
Just Monday, an officer was stabbed to death at a federal prison in Canaan, Pennsylvania. It was a murder that hit close to home.
"We're all one big family and what happens at one place, happens everywhere," says Bertrand.
"We'll have a lot of things that are not being done and when things aren't being done in prison, well, then bad things happen. We have staff that are assaulted weekly if not monthly, " said VanDeHoef.
The two officers feel it could get worse; being attacked because they're out-numbered.
"There are concerned because we want to come out the same way we came in," says Bertrand.
The officers told us that if the sequester stands, 60 officers will be sent home daily from Beaumont's federal prisons beginning April 21.
