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Ohio CO’s Death Prompts Safety Concerns
 
 
 
 
            “A disaster waiting to happen.” That’s what Eddie L. Parks called the murder of a corrections officer in a youth prison. Parks is president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) Local 11 and an International vice president.
 
On April 29, William Hesson, 39, a CO at the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility, was assaulted by a 17-year-old inmate. A coroner determined that Hesson died of “cardiac rhythm disturbance caused by a blow to the abdomen.”
 
The teenager was arraigned and later charged with murder and felonious assault.
 
“We are shocked and saddened but not surprised,” says Parks, referring to the closing of certain facilities by the Department of Youth Services (DYS). “You can’t make the kind of changes DYS is making, then suddenly close an institution and move youth and staff around the system without consequences. Tragically, this was the worst kind.”
 
Hesson’s death and the transfer of Ohio’s most violent juvenile offenders from another facility which shut down recently, has prompted safety concerns among DYS employees. Spurred by OCSEA, a special labor-management committee was formed to look into what happened and institute appropriate prevention measures. Prior to Hesson’s death, OCSEA participated in various labor-management initiatives and pilot projects aimed at changing the “use of force” policy,  reducing gang violence inside prisons and developing programs for youth inmates.
 
          “Officer Hesson was an individual who did his job diligently and professionally,” says Candace Foster, OCSEA Chapter 1830 president. “We will keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.”
 
          Hesson is survived by his wife Julia; son, Skyler; daughters, Brandi and Riley and son, Mason, who will be born on Sept. 1, 2009. The corrections officer was a Ranger in the U.S. Army and served in conflicts in Iraq, Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia.
 
PHOTO
 

 
William Hesson
 

 
CREDIT: Courtesy of DYS