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Fifteen Atlanta corrections officers and their union representative stood outside the city jail Wednesday with a megaphone and a message: They are not safe at their place of work.

Charles Clark, executive director of the local 1644 district of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, called for a change in leadership, an increase in staffing, shorter work days and more monitored jail conditions for the city jail employees.

The union's message comes after an incident on July 16, when corrections officer Willie Wilson was allegedly attacked and beaten by an inmate. The union group believes there were not enough officers on staff to assist and defend Wilson during the attack.

"The issue here is not if and when something will happen, it’s when will it happen again?" Clark said.

According to the incident report, Wilson asked the inmate to his cell after the inmate disobeyed a directive. The inmate then stood up and hit Wilson in the face, knocking him to the floor. When Wilson got up, the report states, his nose was bleeding. The inmate was charged with simple battery.

Wilson was not at the news conference and has been out on leave since the alleged attack.

"What I can say is the incident remains under investigation, so I feel limited sharing everything," interim Corrections Chief Priscilla Doggett told the AJC in a phone interview.

Clark reported that since the appointment of Doggett, officers are responsible for up to 80 inmates per officer, making it difficult for them to leave their posts should there be an emergency.

"I understand their concern for a safe environment, and I share that concern," Doggett told the AJC. "As an administrator, I am working diligently to make sure those vacancies are filled and I'm working on policies to ensure their safety."

Doggett said she plans on making hires from a "rip list"-- a list of former jail officers available for rehire who would not need as much training as a new hire.

But Clark said the city jail can't wait for bureaucracy.

"I understand the administration has said they are going to look at supplying more staff, but we can't wait a month. We can't wait a year," Clark said.

The union also said short staffing has caused officers to work 12-, sometimes even 16-hour shifts.

"Twelve-hour shifts are nationally used across the country. We transitioned to 12 hours to give them more time with family members," Doggett said. There are some staff who don’t like the 12 hours, but there are some that like the change because it affords them a three-day weekend every other week."

Lieutenant K.G. Hinton, one of the corrections officers at the union's news conference, said he and his fellow officers should be treated as professionals.

"[We] have to go to mandate training just like police officers," Hinton said. It’s a very thankless job. Sanitation workers and correctional officers -- people want their trash picked up on time and they want it to be gone. But when it’s not picked up and it’s piling up on the side of the road, that’s when they understand they need their trash workers."

Hinton also said he didn't like Doggett's priorities.

"The jail was about to receive an award for accreditation, and that’s the most important thing to her," Hinton said. "Not jail safety."

But Doggett said that accreditation is indicative of the jail's well-being.

"Had this been deemed an at-risk facility, we wouldn't have received that national recognition," Doggett said.

Atlanta City Councilman Michael Bond attended the news conference. He said perhaps the officers' needs have been neglected because the jail may soon be owned by another county government.

Mayor Kasim Reed and other officials have been trying to negotiate a lease or sale of the city jail to South Fulton County to take over.

"[The possible lease or sale] doesn’t excuse the lack of concern for the day-to-day operation of this facility," Bond told the AJC.

Bond is a former corrections officer whose brother is a lieutenant at the city jail.

"The correctional officers have to protect the inmates from the public, protect the inmates from each other, they have to maintain the public safety aspect of the building at all times, whether we own this building for five years or 100 years," Bond said.

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