Arizona’s fallen correctional officers are among hundreds listed in the “CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS MEMORIAL WALL,” a web site created by a New York State Officer to honor correctional officers and employees from all the state killed in the line of duty.
Officer Jim Holtz has worked at the Attica Correctional Facility for most of his six years as a correctional officer. He began his Internet web site, www.correctionofficersmemorialwall.com/index.html, four years ago because of his dismay over the fact that fallen officers and other employees were not getting the recognition he felt that they deserved.
“It is important that people become aware of how dangerous the correctional line of work can be,” Holtz said.
“I spend a lot of time doing research,” he said, “because this in a one-man operation.” Officer Holtz maintains the web site on his own and in his spare time. “I have spent entire vacations working on this site.”
He said he has to depend on other agencies and individuals to contact him when someone dies. “I search the world wide web and check news casts on a daily basis, but I just don’t have the time to look everywhere,” he said.
Officer Holtz stated that he doesn’t keep up the wall for himself. “I hope that by getting the information out about how many of us (correctional employees) have died, it will help stop the negative image that we sometimes carry from other law enforcement.”
One of the main motivations that Holtz said drove him to start the site was that the four correctional employees who died in the 1971 riot at Attica Correctional Facility have not been acknowledged by most memorials. There were seven correctional officers and four other employees who died in the four day New York disturbance that rocked the correctional industry.
To provide Officer Jim Holtz information for his web site he can be e-mailed at nysco1040@aol.com