FISHKILL – An officer was treated at a local hospital after an inmate he was observing on a suicide watch attacked him when he went into his room to deliver his breakfast at the medium security Fishkill Correctional Facility.
The attack was reported by the New York State Corrections Officers PBA.
The latest assault prompted the union vice president to call for additional staffing to make facilities safer for staff.
On Wednesday, September 23 at approximately 7:15 a.m., the officer entered the inmate’s room to deliver his breakfast tray. The inmate, who was on a suicide watch, immediately charged the officer and grabbed his left arm. With both hands, he grabbed the officer’s shirt and threw him up against the wall causing the officer to strike the back of his head against the concrete wall.
The officer was able to grab the inmate in a body hold and force him to the ground. He activated his personal alarm and additional staff responded to the room. Officers were able to get the inmate under control and into handcuffs quickly.
The inmate was removed from the room and eventually transferred to Green Haven Correctional Facility.
The officer sustained a contusion to the back of his head, back, neck and hip pain, and scratches on his arm. One of the responding officers sustained a righthand injury. Both officers were transported to a local hospital and did not return to duty.
“This latest attack on staff is a direct result of dangerous staffing practices on the part of DOCCS administration. The officer who was attacked should have been on a light duty post as a result of a prior incident involving a violent inmate and was still recovering from those injuries,” said Chris Moreau, NYSCOPBA Mid-Hudson Region vice president. “As a result of DOCCS stretching staffing levels so thin, it is a common practice to assign light duty officers to jobs that put them in dangerous situations. DOCCS has committed millions of dollars to expand its training academy that currently sits vacant. The large number of officers that are retiring each month are not being replaced and it forces current staff into mandated overtime that can wear them down physically and mentally. In addition, with an uptick in officers being quarantined daily as a result of COVID, officers are simply spread too thin. DOCCS needs to step up and provide more resources to protect staff.”
