“Correction officers statewide put their lives on the line every single day to ensure New York State prisons are safely run and monitored. In recent years, there has been a huge spike in inmate assaults on correction officers and on other inmates. It is extremely important we provide additional assistance to the correction officers overwhelmed and harmed by the rising violence.

I commend the governor’s decision to hire 103 new correction officers to help combat this increasingly dangerous phenomenon. In 2011, 13 New York prisons were closed. Recently, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, Inc. (NYSCOPBA) raised awareness about the changing prison environment due to nonviolent drug offenders leaving the system after the state’s Rockefeller Drug Laws were altered. Current reports show that the inmate population of these same prisons is far more dangerous.

I thank NYSCOPBA for taking the initiative to bring attention to the growing danger in prisons. Having served various roles in law enforcement, I know what sacrifices these brave men and women make to work in such unstable environments. This growing problem could not be ignored any longer. I am pleased with the hiring of additional correction officers so that current prison enforcement employees are no longer put in harm’s way.”