Collins, N.Y. (WBEN) - In light of an incident Sunday at the Collins Correctional Facility that sent 11 corrections officers and a nurse to ECMC, locally elected officials are calling for action to correct policies that strain a number of workers at these correctional facilities across New York.
"This incident is a stark reminder of the daily dangers faced by these brave men and women. However, it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the systemic problems plaguing our correctional facilities across the state," said State Assemblyman David DiPietro during a Wednesday press conference just outside the facility in the Town of Collins.
After working to save the inmate's life that Sunday morning, all 11 officers that responded were transported to ECMC, but not before being administered Narcan, some of those officers being given multiple doses of Narcan. According to Ken Gold, vice president of the Western Region for NYSCOPBA, they have not been given any definitive answers on what the officers were exposed to.
Gold says, though, Sunday's incident is only a microcosm with what's going on in state prisons every single day.
"Short staff, the HALT Act, the laws that are being passed by uneducated legislators. It needs to stop, because at this point, we keep saying it, someone's going to die. They narrowly escaped this one," said Gold on Wednesday. "It could have happened, but it's going to happen sooner or later, and someone's got to be responsible for that."
Related
These issues at hand at facilities across the state have led to chronic understaffing, as well as plummeting morale among correctional officers. Republican lawmakers like DiPietro point to the Democrats in Albany, led by Gov. Kathy Hochul, and their neglect of the needs and safety of COs.
"Instead of addressing these critical issues, they have chosen to prioritize a progressive agenda that focuses more on culture wars than on the real world impact of their policies," DiPietro said. "I see this firsthand, I'm on the Corrections Committee, and I'm dumbfounded and astounded at the idiotic, moronic issues and bills they put up in Albany that totally try to protect these criminals, and make them think that they're innocent and law-abiding citizens. And at the same time, put our people in harm's way."
The policy at the center of criticism from officials is the HALT (Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement) Act, which:
- Restricts the use of segregated confinement and creates alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options;
- Limits the length of time a person may be in segregated confinement;
- Excludes certain persons from being placed in segregated confinement.
The goal of the bill was to make New York's prison and jail practices more humane. Instead, officials claim it is allowing criminals inside these correctional facilities with minimal accountability for any violent actions against corrections officers or other inmates.
"All it has done is created more violence on staff, and inmate-on-inmate. The state has taken away all our tools to implement what needs to be taken care of. There are no more repercussions, and that's the problem," said Chris Summers, president of NYSCOPBA.
"2024 is going to shatter all past records for violence in our facilities. Inmates are emboldened by a lack of consequences for their violent actions after Democrats took away all protections for our officers. Members are certain someone is going to die inside the walls and fences due to a failure by our governor and, of course, the Democrat majority," DiPietro added. "Over 1,300 incarcerated individuals have been assaulted by other incarcerated individuals just through today. Assault on our officers is at an all-time high. This is a clear and present danger, and must be addressed immediately."
For New York Congressman Nick Langworthy (R-NY-23), the more infuriating aspect of this is the lack of accountability from Democratic lawmakers in Albany to correct the failures of the HALT Act. He says lawmakers only continue to double and triple down on these types of enacted policies.
"Numbers don't lie. There's a 35% increase in violent assaults against our corrections officers since this bad law took into effect. Doing nothing to fix it means one thing, but the people that put it in law just don't care. They don't care," said Langworthy on Wednesday. "They care more about the criminals and those behind bars than they do about those protecting the society. Well, the people standing here today, they do care. And we need to make sure we need to tell people what's happening so they demand more from people in power. We owe these men and women better, and it's time for real accountability from the governor on down to the state legislator.
"They want to come home and announce the pork that they brought home, or all sorts of happy nonsense. They don't want to talk about the lousy, terrible votes that are putting our officers' lives in danger every single day. And we need those answers, and those people need to be held accountable, because they nearly had 11 people's blood on their hands last Sunday. Enough is enough."
Erie County Sheriff John Garcia says he was sick to his stomach when he heard the news of what happened at the Collins Correctional Facility on Sunday. It's something he fears could happen at any given point not just at either of the county's two correctional facilities, but anywhere around New York State.
Garcia points to the pro-criminal laws passed in Albany as a reason why corrections officers across the board are dealing with issues at these facilities.
"What happened to common sense? What happened to taking care of the good guys? The men and women of corrections. The men and women that work road patrol. How is it that all of a sudden, it's flipped?" asked Garcia on Wednesday.
State Assemblyman Joseph Giglio says right from the beginning, the HALT Act was a disgrace and a lie on what it would entail at state-run correctional facilities.
"They tried to tell you they were in solitary confinement, as if we locked them in a box in a field, like the old Westerns, and didn't let them out until the evenings. All these guys behind you and ladies will tell you they've got more services when they're in a special segregation block than those in general population. And we argued that from here to kingdom come," Giglio said in front of a large crowd of corrections officers on Wednesday.
Local officials are enraged that the rights of inmates are being prioritized over the safety and concerns of correctional officers and their families with the HALT Act and other policies coming from Albany. This all comes with the current workforce already being stretched thin, and being forced to work double, sometimes even triple shifts.
"Honest, hard-working COs are bearing the brunt of this neglect, while those who abuse compensation, take advantage of the system go unpunished. This leaves dedicated officers overworked and underappreciated, leading to unsafe work conditions that put their lives at risk, as we just saw," DiPietro said.
"Members are breaking under the oppressive weight of mandatory overtime. Members report every day for their eight hour shift only to clock out 16-to-24 hours later. This happens on a daily basis, sometimes 3-to-4 times a week. Plus, they are routinely called in on their off days, making for a very unsafe, stressful environment."
At the county level, Sheriff Garcia sees first-hand how the number of recruits are going down, no where close to where they have been in years past. The same is happening at the state level.
"We should be treating our staff like family, and that's what they are. All these men and women behind us, their brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, husbands, wives. We forget about them every single day, and the legislation that's coming from Albany, again, pro-criminal. It's got to stop," Garcia said.
What also scares Garcia is how substances like fentanyl are ending up in places like correctional facilities.
"Not only is it getting through our open borders, and we're just trying to keep it away from our citizens - almost 400 people in Erie County are going to be, unfortunately, dead because of these overdoses - but the fact that if one little packet, the equivalent to a packet of sugar, gets into one of these facilities, all these men and women standing behind me will not be there," he said.
DiPietro says he and several other Republican lawmakers in Albany have written "dozens" of bills to protect corrections officers and protect facilities in New York, but they never see the light of day.
"We're in the super minority in New York State, so we write these bills and they laugh at them. They put them in a committee, and then for years, they'll never even get voted on," he said.
Despite the inaction in the State Legislature, DiPietro is calling on Gov. Hochul to take immediate action to address the ongoing issues at state correctional facilities.
"First, instruct DOCCS to immediately enact the same emergency protocols that were implemented during COVID. Guarantee RDOs, that's regularly scheduled days off so the staff can rest, decompress and spend time with their families," DiPietro detailed. "Next, utilize your emergency powers to suspend the HALT Act. It is indisputable that this Act passed in 2022 directly correlates to the skyrocketing violence. Facilities, as a result of HALT, have become even more unsafe, proven fact. Next, stop further prison closures. Contrary to what you are being told, closures have been proven to fail at providing a long-term fix for staffing issues, and immediately make our prisons less safe."
By returning to COVID protocols, the state would run these facilities as if it's dealing with the bare essentials, instead of running the facility like it's fully staffed.
"We're not fully staffed. You cannot run this facility like you are, and that's what is causing all the mandates," Summers explained.
"You need to give relief to the staff statewide. They are burnt out, they are fed up, and they can't take it anymore. So we are calling that you do that, and you go to the protocols that you did during COVID so these guys and women can have a break and spend time with their family."
In addition, Langworthy says the public can also help address this issue by making their voices heard at the polls this November.
"You need to know who's on what side of this fight. Are you on the side of the men and women in uniform, whether it's on the street or in the jails, or are you on the side of the law breaker, the criminal, the person that's already proven they don't value a civil society? The left's rhetoric and their policies have been absolutely disastrous, and people are getting hurt and people are getting killed. They're tying the hands of law enforcement, while they're coddling criminals," he said.