The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association Central Region vice president said there have not been many changes for correction officers since the strike last year.

National Guard members continue to help in state prisons amid staffing shortages.

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There have not been many changes for correction officers since the strike last year, according to the NYSCOPBA Central Region vice president

National Guard members continue to help in state prisons amid staffing shortages

The commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said keeping the National Guard in prisons is not a long-term sustainable solution

“The only thing that’s truly changed is we’re not working 24-hour shifts. Nobody’s doing 24-hour shifts anymore. That has changed. They’re out there recruiting, and there’s 12,000 in the pipeline, but we’re only seeing 60ish, 70ish come through an academy class every two months,” said NYSCOPBA Central Region Vice President Bryan Hluska.

He said state correction officers still cannot take vacations due to short staffing.

Hluska said the state is 4,500 correction officers short.

Shorter staffing, he said, affects the ability to run programs. And there’s a lot of pressure, he said, from advocacy groups and the state, to do so.

“We don’t have enough staff to run programs in general population. So we have to put the general population inmates on the burn. They don’t get their programs, but the individuals, the inmates that are in the RRUs misbehaving, they do get their programs,” Hluska said.

Roughly 2,700 National Guard members are still in state prisons, according to DOCCS. There were upwards of 7,000.

Hluska said more are needed.

“There are legislators out there that say that they are not trained like a correction officer. I agree with them a hundred percent. But if you can’t get the correction officer, what do you do? So, they’re a necessary evil at this point. And if we can’t recruit our way out of this, they need to deploy more National Guard,” said Hluska.

“They’re certainly allowing us to provide a better work-life balance. And we’re not where we need to be for staff. And also allowing us to reopen the vital programs that, that you were just talking about earlier. Now we have drawn down from upwards of 7,000 National Guard down to 2,700. And we continue to look at those numbers and work with the National Guard. But that is not the long-term sustainable solution,” said New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel Martuscello.

Hluska said drugs continue to come in and make things dangerous inside facilities.

He wants state leaders to help solve that problem.

“If they want to truly, really rehabilitate inmates, why aren’t they doing everything they can to make that environment a place where you can be really rehabilitated? They’re pretty much reproducing the environment where they got in trouble inside the facilities. So, how does someone truly become rehabilitated? They don’t,” said Hluska.

Hluska said an expanded commissary and more secure vendor and package room would help.

He also said HALT – the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act – needs changes so interdisciplinary action can be taken against incarcerated individuals when appropriate.

State lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have said HALT doesn’t need to be amended.

They said DOCCS has yet to appropriately implement the law.

DOCCS sent Spectrum News 1 a lengthy and detailed response about their commitment to safety, recruitment and work-life balance for staff.

“Since the end of the illegal job action, Commissioner Martuscello has worked tirelessly to implement his Recover, Recruit and Rebuild initiative to stabilize staffing levels, develop future leaders, reduce violence in the correctional [facilities], making it safer for staff and the incarcerated,” it says.

DOCCS says it has launched a recruitment campaign with changes to eligibility and incentives to include referral and hiring bonuses, along with pay reallocations and retention bonuses, resulting in 155% increase in those taking the exam, a 64% increase in appointments and a 44% increase in those completing the academy. The next class on Feb. 23 will begin with 130 recruits, it said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said she “respects the extraordinary work of New York’s correction officers,” and pointed to what it said was the administration’s “aggressive” efforts to recruit and retain staff through increased pay, recruitment bonuses, lowering the age and eliminating the state residency requirement for applicants.