Burns: State inmates must dispose of hard-soled boots by Friday

Blue Lives Matter chairman previously called for total ban

EBENSBURG, May 8 – State prison inmates have until Friday to turn in or mail home their hard-soled work boots, according to state Rep. Frank Burns, who called for a total ban after Timberland-style footwear was used to kick a corrections officer to death in February.

Burns, D-Cambria, who attended the funeral service for SCI-Somerset corrections officer Sgt. Mark Baserman, wrote letters to the governor and state Department of Corrections demanding that in addition to suspending new sales through prison commissaries, all boots already in prisoner possession be confiscated.

Burns said the Department of Corrections, in the latest newsletter published on its state website, announced that inmates were advised in April that they have until May 11 to get rid of their boots – by shipping them home, sending them home with a visitor, turning them in without reimbursement or donating them to a local organization.

“Like many others, I was shocked to find out that inmates were allowed to purchase boots that could be used as weapons in the first place, so I’m ecstatic to read that – and I quote – “Inmates were advised to arrange to get rid of their boots,’” Burns said. “The DOC decision to remove hard-soled boots, although tucked away on page 36 of a 55-page online newsletter, was the right one.”

As he launched his own fact-gathering effort in the wake of Baserman’s death, Burns said he was provided information from confidential sources within the corrections community that showed a recommended study of whether selling such boots posed a threat to prison staff safety was never performed.

Burns said he also obtained many complaints about the threat posed by allowing inmates access to razors, as well as a list of items available for purchase in male prisons that includes makeup, lipstick and women’s undergarments.

Burns added that according to the new DOC policy, inmates being released by Sept. 1 can have their boots held for them at the facility until their release from prison.