COLLINS, N.Y. (WKBW) — Collins Correctional Facility remains on lockdown for the third day in a row.
Still, there’s another thing on many New York State Department of Corrections workers’ minds, potential staffing cuts at every state prison.
I received a copy of this internal memo sent by the state Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello on Monday to all prison superintendents, part of it reads:
“The broader community is discussing that 70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%. As I mentioned on our all superintendents call last week, I need each of you to do a comprehensive review of each post, post order, duties description and identify where we can eliminate and/or realign posts and associated duties.”
Both Republicans and Democrats in the state senate tell me the staff at these facilities are already overworked.
“[Officers] are doing mandated overtime, in some cases, mandated triples, working 24 hours straight with no break,” Republican senator of the NYS 57th district George Borrello said.
“We are understaffed. The workers who work there are being forced to work tremendous amounts of overtime, and the cracks are showing,” Democratic senator of the NYS 61st district Senator Sean M. Ryan said.
I reached out to the state directly to ask what this memo would mean for those already overworked employees. I was told the state has no plans to eliminate any staff, rather the statement suggests the 30% cut comes from daily responsibilities and unfilled officer posts.
“The Department has no plans to reduce our current staffing level and is actually aggressively recruiting to fill vacant security and civilian staff positions systemwide. In an attempt to safely operate within our current staffing levels and limit the use of overtime, the Commissioner has directed Superintendents to review their facility operations and identify job assignments that can be modified or eliminated. This will not result in the elimination of any staff, but would allow facilities to safely operate within their current staffing levels, require less overtime and give staff a better quality of life. As our recruiting efforts bring in new employees, facilities can adapt job assignments as the staffing numbers increase in the future.”
“If you cut 30%, [the commissioner] can tell the governor that we’re overstaffed,” NYSCOPBA Western Region Vice President Kenny Gold said. “Safety, that’s the backseat right now, it’s just trying to cut numbers to make yourself look good and it’s falling on our members' backs.”
“The reality is that they can’t recruit. They can’t hire people to do these jobs,” Borrello said. “They are trying to essentially cover up by cutting staffing, I can’t think of any other reason why.”
The memo states these changes must be made by the end of the month.
