Trending Topics

Pa. race in honor of fallen CO set

The Eric J. Williams Memorial 5K Race kicks off Saturday

1908139_887273721334476_825.jpg

(Facebook Image)

By Bob Kalinowski
The Citizens’ Voice

NANTICOKE — The race for justice has changed, but the mission remains the same: honor slain Correctional Officer Eric Williams and raise scholarship money in his name.

This year’s run will be a 5K, a change from last year’s relay format.

The Eric J. Williams Memorial 5K Race kicks off Saturday at 10 a.m. at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke.

Williams, 34, a Nanticoke native, was murdered by an inmate Feb. 25, 2013, while working at U.S. Penitentiary at Canaan in Wayne County.

The race’s goal is to raise money in Williams’ name, but also to raise awareness of working conditions in prisons, Jeremy Dominick, the union vice president at Canaan, wrote in a letter promoting the race.

“People frequently picture a prison as a place where, once arrested and convicted, a criminal is tucked away in a cell for most of the day, and is guarded by multiple, highly armed officers. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Dominick wrote. “Our prison systems are highly overcrowded, usually alarmingly understaffed, (places) where officers working alone and unarmed have to manage as many as 120 dangerous inmates in an open housing unit by themselves. With the increased numbers of violent inmates, there has been an increase in the number of officers injured, with some killed. This needs to change, and soon.”

WHAT: The Eric J. Williams Memorial 5K Race

WHEN: Saturday, May 14

TIME: 7:30 a.m. registration starts, 10 a.m. race begins

WHERE: Luzerne County Community College, Nanticoke

COST: $20

Copyright 2016 The Citizens’ Voice

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU