Correction officers’ union boss raps suit

Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, said the test to determine whether applicants enter the training academy simulates challenges often faced by officers. He denied that it was unrelated to the job, as the US Justice Department claims in the suit it filed Monday in US District Court in Boston.

“Honestly, I really think the Department of Justice has to take a harder look at what it takes to be a correction officer in the very physical environment that we’re in,’’ said Kenneway, a correction officer for more than 21 years. “Maybe they should take a look at some of the [prison surveillance] films of correction officers fighting for their lives.’’

Kenneway said that about three-fourths of his union members are men but that plenty of women pass the test, and plenty of men fail it.

“Just like in the military, if you can’t pass the standards, you’re drummed out,’’ said Kenneway, whose union is not a party to the suit.

The Justice Department’s civil rights division filed the suit against the state and the Department of Correction. Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, which oversees the prison system, said state officials had no comment on the complaint.

The suit alleges that the fitness test disproportionately screens out women and is not job-related. Some 107 of 182 female applicants, or less than 59 percent, passed the physical fitness test in 2007 and 2008, while 628 of 652 male applicants, or more than 96 percent, passed, according to the complaint.

The test consists of 11 tasks meant to simulate a “code red’’ emergency, according to a copy of the exam available online. In the scenario, an officer must run half a mile to another location in the prison, climb to the top floor where fighting prisoners have left two officers unconscious, drag the officers to safety, and restrain the prisoners.

Among the drills that applicants must perform are running half a mile on a treadmill, dashing up 288 steps in three minutes, carrying 85-pound weights, and pushing and pulling a sled loaded with 70 pounds of weights. Applicants must pass all 11 drills to enter the academy.

Alejandro Miyar, a Justice Department spokesman, said yesterday that the department could not explain why the test was unrelated to the duties of correction officers while the case was pending but that the government “stands by the allegations in this complaint.’’

Kenneway said in an interview that correction officers must be fit not only to restrain violent inmates but to quickly hoist prisoners who attempt suicide by hanging themselves in their cells.

“You’ve got to be able to pick that person up and support that person while someone is trying to cut that noose and get that person down,’’ he said.

There have been at least four inmate suicides this year in the state prison system. The department reported no suicides last year, but there were 15 from 2005 through 2007, as well as a number of attempts.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com