Prison Security Chief Loses Job For Tightening Safety

The security chief at the prison holding two suspects in the Oklahoma City bombing has been relieved of duty because he wants to tighten safety restrictions, the Muskogee Daily Phoenix reported Sunday.

Charles M. “Chuck” Mildner, chief correctional supervisor at El Reno Federal Correctional Institution, had ordered that only one officer be allowed to handle food trays for bombing suspects Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, his lawyer, David Wilson, said.

Mildner’s supervisors revoked that order, Wilson said.

Mildner established the policy after syringes were found on food trays going into the unit where McVeigh and Nichols are held, Wilson said. It was not clear where the syringes came from.

Contraband was found again on the trays after Mildner’s order was revoked, and inmates had access to the trays, the lawyer said.

“What would happen if one of those two inmates were to die inside the prison?” Wilson asked, referring to McVeigh and Nichols. “It would make him a martyr to all these crackpots and extremists.”

McVeigh and Nichols could be sentenced to death if convicted in the April 19 explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people and injured 500 more.

Even though Mildner is a member of management, he got a vote of support Friday from the prison employees’ union.

Warden R.G. Thompson refused to comment Sunday.