DEER LODGE – About a dozen Montana State Prison employees picketed the secure facility Friday to raise public awareness about working conditions. For about three and a half hours the picketers stood at the intersection of Conley Lake Road and Old Stage Road in Deer Lodge, where demonstrators described the prison’s upper management as unresponsive to employee concerns and dismissive. For about a year, the Montana Department of Corrections has struggled with staffing shortages, putting a strain on DOC’s relationship with the prison employee union.
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