Powers “A step in the right direction”
COXSACKIE – Governor Andrew Cuomo Thursday announced he is going
to add over 100 corrections officers to the ranks of those in state prisons
in an effort to curb violence inside their walls.
With 54 prisons in New York, that equates to two additional CO’s
per prison.
Cuomo toured Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie on Thursday before
making the announcement
.
Michael Powers, president of the New York State Corrections Officers and
PBA said with the release of non-violent drug offenders in recent years,
the state’s prisons are left “with a more violent, more volatile
inmate populations.” In recent years, inmate violence against officers
has increased by over 50 percent and inmate on inmate violence has increased
by over 60 percent, he said. This is all happening at a time when the
prison population is decreasing.
The rise in synthetic marijuana in the prisons has fueled much of the
violence, Powers said.
Cuomo also called in the state legislature to pass his “Raise the
Age” legislation that would take certain 16 and 17-year-old prisoners
out of adult prisons and place them youth facilities. He said youths housed
in adult facilities are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted;
two times more likely to be injured by prison staff; and eight times more
likely to commit suicide than their peers in juvenile facilities.
