Montgomery labor leaders are recommending the county cut back on inmates’ weekly toilet paper allotments to help save costs as council members try to resolve a $297 million budget deficit.
Gino Renne, president of Montgomery’s Municipal and County Government Employees Organization, gave council members last week a six-page memo of recommended budget cuts suggested by some of the 8,000 county government employees that are part of his union.
“Please keep in mind that these recommendations have been submitted by our members, the front line service providers who know best where efficiencies and savings truly exist,” Renne said in his letter to council members.
Union members suggested the county resume charging a nominal “hold fee” for library materials, abolish “dozens of duplicative management positions” and eliminate many other “activities or processes which produce no benefit to the public while imposing an unnecessary burden on taxpayers” in addition to limiting the amount of toilet paper used by inmates.
Union officials said they recommended providing a set amount of toilet paper at two or three rolls a week because inmates often deliberately clog toilets to cause problems at detention centers, thus wasting taxpayer money on both the toilet paper and the cost of fixing toilets.
Art Wallenstein, director of Montgomery’s department of corrections and rehabilitation, acknowledged that clogging toilets is a problem at detention centers, but said he does not see it as anything unusual given the setting.
“Do they ever block up the toilets? Yes they do,” Wallenstein said. “So do college students, so do high school students and so do mentally ill individuals or occasional serious behavior problems. We also have special drains in our toilets to protect main pipe lines that make it easier to clog at the bowl level. This is not an unexpected consequence.”
According to Wallenstein, the county serves about 16,000 inmates a year, who average about half a roll of toilet paper a day. He said he does not find the use of toilet paper excessive, and that inmates use it for many things beyond normal hygiene, such as blowing their nose or putting it on a toilet seat since most inmates share their cells and toilets.
“As directorI will never restrict personal hygiene items,” Wallenstein said. “That is a quick way to a riot that would place our staff in needless danger.”
