Picketing by correctional officers has crossed into a second week around Western New York.
Taylor Roberts, who worked as a corrections officer for 20 years at Wende and retired as a lieutenant, says the state changes proposed for employees don’t address the real concerns with safety and time off. Working 24-hour shifts, or the proposed 12 hours, means there’s no chance for breaks, even in the common occurrence when inmates throw fecal matter, urine or blood at guards, he said.
“After being thrown on, you're expected to go back to work," he said. "You're expected to have a spare uniform at work and go down in our basement, take a shower, clean up and change into another outfit, and then go back and take your duties over — often in the same area we're with, dealing with the same inmate that had thrown on you.”
New York Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray says they’re grappling with reduced workforces.
“Our facilities run safer when we're fully staffed. And unfortunately, it has been exceedingly hard, even before the pandemic … to remain fully staffed," she said. "That's one of the reasons why this consent award included important things to help incentivize staffing. For example, the state agreed to an up to $3,000 referral bonus for any DOCCS employee, any corrections officer who is able to recruit a non-DOCCS employee to join the team.”
But Roberts and anonymous current officers say better hours and increased time off with family is more important than a bonus or additional overtime.
Some corrections officers have returned to work. The state is still threatening the healthcare coverage and jobs of those who remain on picket lines.
A continued point of contention is corrections officers' desire for a full repeal of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, which currently limits the time in solitary confinement for New York inmates.
"The state sets the sanctions for what can happen for certain things, and the punishment does not fit the crime," Roberts said. "These guys are going in and serving less than two weeks for very egregious acts against staff, and then going right back out in population."
While a temporary hold can be put in place, a full repeal of the 2021 law requires legislative action, said Dan Martuscello III, acting commissioner for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
"We did address HALT in two ways, one with a 90-day suspension under the authority granted to me within the law, and then a circuit breaker whereby we will use staffing in the facility in order to determine whether it's safe to operate or if there's a facility-wide emergency," he said. "That's within my current authority under the law, as was granted by the legislature."
In terms of repealing law or making specific changes on terms of what conduct constitutes, being able to be placed in a special housing unit or restricted housing those are things that I have no ability to change that will require the legislature."
