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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Prisons says the West Virginia prison camp where Martha Stewart will serve a five-month sentence is safe and secure, contradicting a union official who decried staffing shortages.
Bureau spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said Tuesday that although there are some vacant positions at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp, the 44 officers working there now "are adequate to protect all offenders at that facility." She would not say how many vacancies there are.
Phil Glover, national president of the Council of Prison Locals, which represents 26,000 federal prison employees nationwide, said there are only 35 to 40 correction officer positions at the 1,000-inmate prison, down from 60 in the late 1990s.
Billingsley denied union claims that Alderson inmates are sometimes left unattended and that the shortages will make it difficult to protect Stewart.
Stewart, who was convicted of lying to federal investigators about a stock sale, has until 2 p.m. Friday to report to the minimum-security camp to begin serving her sentence. The home fashion mogul is continuing to appeal her conviction. | 
