Let me say just a couple of things here.
The most important responsibility that any of us in government have is the protection of the public safety.
For years and years, this facility – which actually predates Alcatraz – has been functionally obsolete. Which means that the men and women in uniform, that you see standing here before you – have day in and day out, in cold weather and hot weather, in rain weather, when the pipes were leaking and water was on the floor – they came in to this obsolete institution for the rest of us because of their belief in the dignity of every individual. And their own personal responsibility to protect the rest of us.
Today is a historic today because, ladies and gentlemen, your state government is now living up to the responsibility you all have shown over these last several years by facing up to our own responsibility to give to you the back up of a state government that actually works. So that you won't be short-staffed in these halls. So that you won't have to tape magazines to your chest as a makeshift protection in this unsafe environment.
So today is one step. We have many more steps to make. But it's one step we have made by giving you a government that works. With leadership that works, with General Maynard and his command staff. With leadership that works and your union representatives who protected operational security so that your lives and your safety would not be in danger while we managed this huge movement of 800 some prisoners out of this old building.
Today is also a day where we make progress in improving public safety in our state. For about 50 years, we have talked about the need to close this functionally obsolete and dangerous facility. In 5 weeks, we were able to actually close this functionally obsolete facility.
We have a lot of work ahead of us. I understand that JCI, because of the movement and the redeployment of staff, is going to be fully staffed for the first time in anybody's memory. Because of investments safeguarded by Senator DeGrange and Delegate Barkley and their colleagues, we are going to have some more capacity coming online in January.
I believe the chairmen have also been able to make sure we protect the investment proposed, $7 million, to hire an additional 155 correctional officers.
So today is an important milestone. But it's also, I think, a real tribute to the staff and their leadership here – that General Maynard has been inspiring for these last several weeks – that we were able to get this done. We were able to do it without a single correctional officer, without a single inmate being harmed. We were able to pull this off.
Small things done well make even bigger things possible. Thank you all.
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