State officials said that earlier this year the department's internal affairs unit asked the State Division of Criminal Justice to look into an overtime abuse case involving a corrections employee.

In August 2005, a dental technician and another corrections employee were fired after they were determined by officials to be involved in the escape of inmate Jody Thompson.

One prison in Texas, where the county system houses by far the greatest number of out-of-staters in the country, advertises, its aim being to keep corrections employees employed and its local economy alive.

The medal honours 20 years of full-time exemplary service by corrections employees serving with one or more of the recognized corrections services in Canada.

Prison administrators fired, suspended or disciplined 16 corrections employees over Powell's death.

"This isn't just bad for police officers and corrections employees," Mr. Finkbeiner said.

The positions of 600 corrections employees at those 14 prisons would be eliminated through a hiring freeze, voluntary transfers and attrition, he said.

There were 81 survivors, many of them pulled from the wreckage by corrections employees and about 50 inmates.

On Tuesday, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held near the site of the crash, attended by relatives of passengers and of corrections employees who helped save them.

But prisoner advocates said they believed few women would make false accusations against corrections employees because of fear of retribution.