Ban the boots

After an officer’s death, forbid heavy boots in prison

There’s no reason for state prisoners to own shoes that are big and thick enough to kill someone. After the Feb. 26 death of Sgt. Mark J. Baser man, who was beaten and kicked by a prisoner wearing heavy soled boots, the union representing corrections officers has asked the state to ban them as contraband.

It’s an eminently reasonable request. The Department of Corrections doesn’t permit weapons in its prisons. With the attack on Sgt. Baser man, the first Pennsylvania corrections employee killed in the line of duty since 1979, heavy-soled boots have to be added to the list.

The attack occurred Feb. 15 at SCI Somerset. At some point that day, Sgt. Baser man confiscated a towel that was obscuring the view into a cell assigned to Paul Kendrick, a former North Side resident serving a life sentence for murder. At 7 p.m., video footage showed, Kendrick attacked Sgt. Baser man in a common area, knocking him down and beating him. He knocked out another officer who intervened, then turned back to Sgt. Baser man, kicking him in the head.

It isn’t yet clear what role the kick played in Sgt. Baser man’s death, but that’s doesn’t matter. A prisoner used a heavy-soled boot to inflict significant harm — an affidavit filed in support of charges against Kendrick said the kick left the officer “completely unresponsive” — and that is unacceptable.

After the attack, the department halted sale of the boots in prison commissaries. But who knows how many pairs, already sold, are in cells across the state. The next logical step is to declare them contraband and ban them, collecting the boots cell by cell if necessary. If boots are needed for outside work details, the state can issue them to prisoners when they leave the prison and collect them when the details are over.

The state says it’s considering a ban. But there’s little to consider. If the department has zero tolerance for weapons, heavy-soled boots must go.