Back to Correctional Officers Informational Page
Back News Articles Index
Use this search engine to find any subject you are looking for on my site, there is so much here that this is the way to find what you are looking for.
Social Security Numbers Lawsuit
RE: Negotiations Team-Article 5.3 (e)
Escape artist is foiled at Attica
Inmate found innocent on assault charges
Former prison guard admits stabbing wife after break-in
Prison locked down after series of attacks
Auburn prison locked down
Attacks prompt prison lockdown
Inmates attack more officers
A big dummy found in ACF
TIGHTENING SCREWS ON INMATES
Letters To The Editor - Auburn Citizen
Inmate recaptured after escape try
Inmate recaptured after escaping Poughkeepsie hospital
THE BINDING ARBITRATION PROCESS
Letter To The Editor: ESCAPE
Inmates Locked Down at Hudson Valley Prison
Ex-guard gets 15 years in stabbing
October 17, 2002
Richard Harcrow, President
NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, Inc.
194 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12210
Re: Social Security Numbers Lawsuit
Dear Mr. Harcrow:
We are writing to update you on the "Social Security Numbers" lawsuit. As you recall, this was an issue that you brought to our attention in 1999.
On October 2, 2002, U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue approved settlement of our lawsuit, in which ten members sued Commissioner Goord and other senior DOCS officials for wrongly disclosing officers' personal and confidential information, such as their social security numbers, to inmates. The disclosures resulted from Department policies which mandated officers place their private and confidential information on every document. Then, because of mistakes, mismanagement and inadequate safeguards, this information was turned over to inmates.
DOCS moved to dismiss our case, arguing that Corrections Officers do not have constitutionally protected privacy rights in this personal information. DOCS even described our theory as "frivolous."
But Judge Mordue denied DOCS' motion to dismiss, finding that the officers' privacy interests were of "a constitutional stature." Following extensive discovery and hearings, the Judge approved a settlement which:
This is a victory for NYSCOPBA and all Correction Officers. It is the first time a Court in New York has recognized that Correction Officers have unique and special privacy interests because of their dangerous working conditions. This is an important legal precedent for all law enforcement officers. Additionally, the new procedural safeguards for personal information established at DOCS should ensure better security for officers and their families.
It is important that all NYSCOPBA stewards become familiar with this settlement (attached), so that any non-compliance can be reported to us. Any steward with questions about the settlement or who believes his facility is not in compliance should immediately contact Larry Schaefer.
We sincerely thank those members who participated as plaintiffs. They made this victory possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Lawrence Schaefer
LHS:dac
Enclosure
cc: NYSCOPBA Executive Board
NYSCOPBA Business Agents
NYSCOPBA Chief Sector Stewards'
James Littlefoot, NYSCOPBA Grievance Director
Donald Premo, NYSCOPBA Associate Grievance Director
Mr. Seren A. Hrachian
Associate Director
Governor’s Office of Employee Relations
Agency Building #2
Empire State Plaza
Albany, New York 12223-1250
RE: Negotiations Team-Article 5.3 (e)
Dear Mr. Hrachian:
In our telephone conversation on the above date, you explained that the duration of time requested was excessive and that a month, November 18 through December 13, was not doable. When I inquired what you considered a reasonable duration to be, you stated two (2) weeks.
During our conversation I explained the role of the Negotiation Team and the duties to be performed during the requested time. The role of the Negotiation Team in the past, and at present, is to read through each Article of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and submit language changes. NYSCOPBA would then submit a proposed CBA to the New York State Governor’s Office of Employee Relations.
At this point in our conversation you made the following statement that spoke volumes: “We are not negotiating a new contract.”
Being new to Statewide Contract Negotiations, I thought, ‘Wow! So this is how it’s done. Even before proposals are exchanged, you have already determined that there will be no new language or language changes.’
Therefore, to avoid a waste of time on pre-negotiation strategy and proposals, I have reduced the amount of time previously requested to two (2) weeks. The new dates being requested are December 5 – 18, 2002.
I look forward to sitting across the table from you, watching and listening, as you negotiate in Good Faith.
You may contact me at 518-427-1551, Extension 266, if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Carl E. Canterbury
Executive Vice President
Man who fled Albany County jail last year tries to flee state prison
Associated Press
First published: Monday, November 11, 2002
ATTICA -- An inmate who escaped from Albany County jail last year and robbed a bank during eight days of freedom tried to escape Attica Correctional Facility on Sunday night, officials said.
William Hodge, 34, was with a group of inmates for religious services in Attica's chapel, state Department of Correctional Services spokesman James Flateau said.
As officers counted inmates on their way out of chapel, they noticed one missing around 8 p.m., Flateau said. Guards found Hodge hiding outside the chapel, with 67 feet of rope made from bedsheets wound around his torso. Attica's outermost wall is about 30 feet high, Flateau said.
Hodge had slipped through a door into an open area surrounded by a chain-link fence, Flateau said. The door is left open to evacuate prisoners in case officers must use tear gas in the chapel, he said.
In Hodge's cell, officers found a "very convincing" dummy -- stuffed clothing shaped under blankets to look as if somebody was sleeping with the covers over his head, Flateau said.
"The officers did a superb job by ensuring that all policies were followed, which is how they nabbed this guy," Flateau said.
Hodge is serving 12 to 15 years at Attica for two counts of robbery and escape.
On Nov. 27, 2001, Hodge scaled two 16-foot barbed wire fences and hailed a cab to escape from Albany County jail. He was recaptured eight days later and pleaded guilty in January to the escape and two bank robberies -- one committed after his escape. Two Albany County correction officers were fired and three others suspended after the escape.
The penalty under state law for the attempted escape from state prison is an additional seven years, Flateau said. Hodge was under watch in disciplinary housing Sunday night as the department and State Police investigated, Flateau said.
The only successful escape from Attica, built in the 1940s, was in 1971 by Joe Sullivan, who was serving 87 years to life for murder. He was recaptured, Flateau said.
The Associated Press
11/15/02 10:45 AM
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) -- A jury acquitted a state inmate of assault charges stemming from an argument with corrections officers over a headpiece.
Palmerston Beroo was found innocent Thursday of four second-degree assault charges in the Jan. 30 incident involving two officers, who were injured at Oneida Correctional Facility, according to court records.
Assistant Public Defender Devin Garramone argued that the officers verbally and physically abused Beroo, who questioned an order to take off his headpiece. Garramone said it was an expression of his religion, Islam, which is permitted in a correctional facility.
Garramone said Beroo's reaction to the order did not constitute violence from the corrections officers. "When you're in prison you don't have many rights. One of the rights you do have is religion. And you cling to that."
Prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Matthew Worth said A photograph taken of Beroo immediately after the alleged beating showed no signs of injury. "There wasn't a bruise or a cut on his body. I think we caught the defendant in the middle of a huge lie."
Beroo is currently incarcerated in state prison on a first-degree rape conviction, Worth said.
12/5/2002
ALBION - A former prison guard admitted stabbing his wife several times at her parents' house, where she was staying because of their marital problems.
Robert Smith, 33, of Ridgeway, had been set to go on trial Tuesday on charges of attempted second-degree murder, assault, burglary and other charges for the March 11 attack on his wife, Lizabeth.
Instead, he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, a felony that carries a maximum 15-year sentence, and criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor. Sentencing was set for Jan. 27.
After breaking into his in-laws' house and stabbing his wife, Smith drove his car into a tree in Albion, suffering serious injuries. Both he and his wife have since recovered.
Smith was a corrections officer at Orleans Correctional Facility. His wife is an Albion High School teacher.
Associated Press
December 18, 2002
AUBURN, N.Y. -- A series of attacks between inmates and guards prompted a lockdown Tuesday afternoon at a maximum-security prison, officials said.
Officials locked down the Auburn Correctional Facility for the safety of the staff and inmates, said James Flateau, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services. During the lockdown, inmates will stay in their cells as staff scour the building for weapons and contraband, he said. Inmates can only leave their cells for medical reasons and family visits, he said.
In the latest attack Tuesday, an HIV-positive inmate -- also infected with hepatitis -- bit an officer in the face, according to the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association. The officer needed six stitches near his eye, union officials said.
A medical response team treated officers for exposure to the inmate's blood, Flateau said.
"It's open season on officers," said Richard Harcrow, president of NYSCOPBA, representing about 24,500 members. The union doesn't release names of guards involved in prison attacks to protect their safety.
"When you lock down a prison, that's a serious problem. That means you've lost control of the prison -- almost," said Tom Butler, a NYSCOPBA spokesman. The lockdown should have been called earlier, union spokesmen said.
The first assault happened on Friday as an officer broke up a fight during Islamic services, he said. In assaults over the weekend, one inmate stabbed and slashed three others, one of whom needed dozens of stitches on his head, cheek and ear, Butler said. In another assault, an inmate grabbed a guard through the bars of his cells as another prisoner assaulted the officer, breaking his nose.
An inmate attacked an officer Sunday, and crawled under his bed to reach for a stashed razor after the guard pushed him down, Butler said.
The state is still investigating the attacks, and no charges were filed, Flateau said.
The last time a lockdown occurred at the 1,800-inmate prison, 25 southwest of Syracuse, was in early February.
December 18, 2002
By Scott Rapp - Staff writer
Auburn Correctional Facility was locked down Tuesday after five veteran corrections officers were assaulted by inmates since Friday.
One officer suffered a broken nose and another officer was bitten on the eye and needed six stitches, said John Bielowicz, chief steward of the Auburn sector of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
"It looks like we're a target now. I've never seen so many assaults on staff one day at a time in the (nearly) 15 years I've been here," said Bielowicz, a corrections officer at the maximum-security prison.
State Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Glenn Goord ordered the lockdown at the request of prison Superintendent John Burge, said James Flateau, a department spokesman in Albany.
The lockdown means the approximately 1,870 inmates will be confined to their cells until staff searches the entire prison for weapons and other contraband, Flateau said.
Bielowicz provided this time line:
Friday: A corrections officer was punched at a Muslim service for inmates.
Saturday: Two officers were injured investigating a fight between inmates, one of whom had a razor. One officer suffered a broken nose, the other was punched multiple times in the face.
Sunday: An inmate takes a swing at a corrections officer, but misses.
Monday: An officer was punched in the chest after he tried to stop an inmate from reaching under his bed for a razor.
Tuesday: A corrections officer was walking down a hallway when an inmate jumped off a bench and bit him on the left eyelid
By Joey West / Staff Writer
AUBURN Auburn Correctional Facility officials ordered all prisoners locked down Tuesday to await a cell-by-cell search for weapons after an HIV-positive inmate also infected with hepatitis bit an officer in an eyebrow Tuesday.
The unnamed officer was treated at Auburn Memorial Hospital, where he received six stitches, said John Bielowicz, chief union steward at the prison.
State Department of Correctional Services spokesman James Flateau said a medical response team treated all officers who responded to the scene for exposure to the inmate's blood.
Flateau said all 1,800 prisoners in the prison will be confined to their cells until they are frisked for weapons and contraband. The search could last through the weekend, he said.
It's a total lockdown, Bielowicz said. Every inch of that facility will get frisked.
The prison was last locked down in early February.
Bielowicz said Tuesday's attack followed several days of escalating tensions and violence within the prison, which correctional officers attribute to gang rivalry.
New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association spokesman Tom Butler said the first incident occurred Friday when an officer broke up a fight during Islamic services.
On Saturday, Butler said, one inmate stabbed and slashed three others, one of whom needed dozens of stitches on his head, cheek and ear. In another Saturday assault, an inmate grabbed a guard through the bars of his cells as another prisoner assaulted the officer, breaking his nose, he said.
Butler said an inmate attacked an officer Sunday, and crawled under his bed to reach for a stashed razor after the guard pushed him down.
Union officials critical
Bielowicz, a 15-year veteran at the prison, confirmed the attacks, noting since Friday, there have been five attacks on officers.
Inspections and searches conducted since Tuesday afternoon had already produced a large amount of improvised weapons, including shanks, stabbing spikes made from eating and grooming utensils, Bielowicz said.
We're finding shanks -- a lot of them lately, he said. Utensils from the mess hall are getting smuggled out. We found them in common areas.
Bielowicz said correctional officers were 100 percent behind the lockdown. When problems start to swell and things start happening, usually the union will go in and see the big guys -- the bosses -- and say, 'Hey, maybe it's time' for a lockdown, he said. We knew a lockdown was coming, because all of the assaults started happening.
However, state union officials were more critical of the prison's officials than Bielowicz was. Butler said the lockdown should have been called earlier by the bosses at Auburn Correctional Facility.
When you lock down a prison, that's a serious problem, that means you've lost control of the prison -- almost, he said.
NYSCOPBA President Richard Harcrow was even more outspoken. It's open season there on officers, he said. We want to make sure that they're safe and secure at all times.
Flateau said no charges have been filed against any inmate allegedly involved in the assaults. Inmates charged at the Auburn facility for attacks against local correctional officers, will be prosecuted in Cayuga County.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. To reach Staff Writer Joey West, call 253-5311, ext. 239.
By John Haughey and Joey West / Staff Writers
AUBURN At least five more corrections officers were attacked by inmates Wednesday in the second day of Auburn Correctional Facility's lockdown, while local representatives questioned allegations made by state union officials Tuesday that an officer was bitten by an HIV-infected inmate and that prison officials were slow to respond to signs of mounting violence.
State Department of Correctional Services Spokesman James Flateau said Wednesday five officers were attacked in two incidents as a cell-by-cell search for weapons, drugs and other contraband continued.
Two of the five assaulted officers were treated at Auburn Memorial Hospital for minor injuries and released.
A general lockdown was ordered Tuesday following four days of intensifying violence in the all-male, 1,870-inmate prison. Between Friday and Tuesday afternoon, five officers and several inmates were attacked in a sequence of events officials believe was instigated by gang rivalry within the prison.
Inmate's HIV-status unknown
Tuesday, state corrections union officials in Albany said one of the officers attacked before the lockdown had been bitten in the eyebrow by an HIV-infected inmate. The officer needed six stitches.
Wednesday, New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association President Richard Harcrow in Albany said his statement regarding the assailant's HIV status was taken out of context Tuesday by the Associated Press.
Right now, no one knows for sure if the inmate has the HIV infection, Harcrow said. It's against the law to say an inmate has HIV, so what this department does is take universal precautions. Unless the law in changed, every inmate is considered to have the disease and is treated appropriately.
Harcrow said the union disagrees with confidentiality laws that preclude disclosure to corrections officers and other prison officials whether inmates have a potentially infectious affliction.
We believe if the officer has a significant injury, or any potential risk, that information should be made available right away, Harcrow said. Sometimes, you hear it through the prison grapevine; you know who is taking certain medications and who is being taken for treatments. But no one tell you anything and no one knows.
Flateau acknowledged that a medical response team treated officers involved in Tuesday's incident for exposure to the inmate's blood, but said the procedure is routine.
Flateau said state laws regarding inmate confidentiality were amended a few years ago to permit, in cases involving potential exposure, disclosure to employees and their physicians of possible risk.
However, Wednesday, Flateau would not elaborate on the inmate's HIV status, or if the officer injured in the biting attack was being tested for exposure to HIV. I don't even know if the (inmate's) HIV positive, he said. I never disclose any inmate condition because if I do, I get sued.
John Bielowicz, chief union steward at the Auburn Correctional Facility, was also critical of Harcrow's statements, noting the union leader's remarks Tuesday created unnecessary anxiety among the injured officer's family, friends and co-workers.
We don't know right now if that inmate is HIV-positive, Bielowicz said
Wednesday.
Union leader defends allegations
Bielowicz also challenged Harcrow's assertion that Auburn Correctional Facility officials waited too long before calling for a lockdown.
Local corrections officer union representatives and prison officials share a good working relationship, Bielowicz said, noting, We were involved with decisions regarding the situation since Saturday.
I don't think they ever spoke to the local prison officials and union representatives before issuing statements about the lockdown, Bielowicz said.
However, Harcrow said, as a 19-year veteran of the state's correction system, including stints at Attica, he is responsible for the welfare of 24,000 fellow officers and must see the big picture. Unless union representatives at the state level make as much noise as possible where it counts -- in Albany -- little will be done to redress systemic shortcomings that imperil officers at all 70 of the state's correctional facilities, he said.
Once you have an assault on an officer, you don't have to do an investigation, Harcrow said. A traditional reaction to an assault on an officer is to lock it down and send the offenders to special security housing before there is a second attack.
Auburn Correctional Facility administrators did not do that, Harcrow said, which is what prompted him to say Tuesday, It's open season there on officers.
Flateau responded angrily to Harcrow's allegation Wednesday. It is an incredibly confounding statement for a union official to tell inmates that he thinks they control the prison, he said. He could be jeopardizing the safety of every single person who works in that prison by suggesting to the inmates that they control the prison.
Flateau said assaults on officers at the 70 state correctional facilities have decreased in recent years. In 2001, he said, there were 686 assaults on staff by the approximately 70,000 state-prison inmates.
That is the fewest in 20 years, he said, noting it appears 2002's assault statistics will be even lower. How he comes up saying 'Open season on officers' when we're operating at the fewest in 21 years is beyond me.
Wednesday's attacks
Flateau said the first assault Wednesday occurred at about 1:15 p.m. when an inmate tried to kick an officer after his cell door was opened to conduct a search. The inmate tried to kick an officer and the officer blocked the kick with his right hand and possibly sustained a broken finger, he said. A second officer injured his hand subduing the inmate.
Both officers were treated for their injuries and released, Flateau said.
The second incident occurred around 1:40 p.m., when another inmate punched three officers as he was being removed from his cell prior to a search. One was hit in the face above the nose and suffered a laceration. The second was hit near his left eye. The third was hit on the left side of his face, Flateau said. The inmate was subdued. All three officers remained on duty.
No inmates were injured during these incidents, Flateau added.
Officer Mike Woodard said one of the inmates who attacked officers as his cell was searched Wednesday was, perhaps, attempting a diversion to avoid a body-cavity examination, which generally is included in a cell search.
In this instance, the ploy failed when suspected marijuana was found within his person, said Woodard, noting the inmate was one of three inmates sent to the prison's special housing unit Wednesday.
Bielowicz said the lockdown could continue through the weekend. The intensive procedure, in which all of the 186-year-old's prison grounds will be searched before inmates are allowed to resume their daily schedule, could take as long as seven to 10 days, he said.
In the early stages of the lockdown, Bielowicz said, numerous weapons, particularly shanks -- stabbing spikes fashioned from utensils -- were found inside the prison, including some within common areas.
Bielowicz said while it appears this is the most severe outbreak of violence within the prison since at least February, it is following a familiar pattern. There are isolated incidents, from inmate-on-inmate, to attacks on officers and then you have multiple incidents, he said. That is just how it goes. And that is where we are today: all the inmates are in their cells.
By Joey West / Staff Writer
AUBURN - He has no name, no number, no face. In all likelihood, his entire existence has been within the walls of Auburn Correction Facility.
When corrections officers staged an intensive cell-by-cell search of Auburn Correction Facility as part of last week's lockdown, they found improvised weapons, smuggled drugs, assorted contraband and one uncounted inmate.
And he's not talking. With an onion-bag head, mattress-stuffing innards and tube-sock legs, there is nothing the dummy can say about how he existed without notice in the prison.
The dummy, clad in a green state prison sweat suit, was uncovered Thursday when a corrections officer and a maintenance worker spotted an inmate trying to hurl the dummy out of his cell.
"The dummy was huge," said John Bielowicz, chief union steward at the prison. "An officer was going by, and he saw the guy trying to throw it out to get it out of his cell so he couldn't get pinned with it. He was just trying to get rid of it."
The theory is the dummy was crafted to serve as a makeshift substitute long enough for his unidentified creator to make his escape.
"This was a big find, it really was, because obviously the guy wanted to go somewhere," Bielowicz said. "Who knows what ... he would have done if we didn't have this frisk? He was definitely up to something."
Prison precedents
If Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers are still alive, they'd appreciate the effort expended by the inmate in making his dummy. After all, their cleverly assembled dummies played pivotal roles in their 1962 escape from Alcatraz.
Guards at the infamous California prison didn't realize the blanket-covered lumps in the inmates' cots were self-made effigies until long after the trio had left the island in a raft fashioned from rubber raincoats. No evidence has ever been produced to prove the three didn't make it to freedom.
Although Bielowicz did not know the inmate's exact plans, except to get the dummy out of his cell during the lockdown searches, he said the felon had access to vehicles that routinely come and go from the prison.
"The way I understand it, he used to load the trash trucks," he said. "We have a dump truck that goes through the facility a couple of times a day. There's officers on the dump trucks, and we also have an inmate crew that works for them. He was one of the inmate workers. That may have been his idea, it may not have been, I don't know. He definitely was going to do something."
The inmate displayed guile, patience, and resourcefulness. The dummy's head "looked like a head made out of mattress stuffing and it was in an onion bag," Bielowicz said. "It kind of kept it in its round form to make it look molded like a head."
Bielowicz said the onion bag probably came from the prison commissary where inmates can purchase two-pound bags of onions. Concerning the extra mattress stuffing, he hesitated before hazarding a guess.
"It appeared to me that, over time, he had acquired maybe another mattress or two and cut them open and took the stuffing out," he said. "Because that's what he was using to stuff this fake body."
He said the inmate's bed mattress was intact when officers frisked the cell immediately after he was caught ditching his dummy.
Bielowicz wasn't sure how long the inmate has been at the Auburn Correctional Facility. Other than the dummy and excess mattress material, no other contraband was in the cell. He will probably be charged with possessing "escape paraphernalia," Bielowicz said.
Lockdown continues
During Friday's lockdown searches, Bielowicz said more shanks were discovered. "They found like three or four," he said. "These were killer shanks. They were flat metal. They were heavy gauged steel and they were sharpened to a point. They were some nice weapons."
The local union boss said the weapons were hidden in cell-door tracks. When officers open the sliding doors, the tracks are exposed.
These weapons are often stashed in different door tracks throughout the prison as well as in cell-door tracks. When inmates go to meals, for instance - sometimes up to 48 men at a time - officers can't see everything going on, and that is when an inmate can grab and use a weapon.
"That gives the inmates a perfect opportunity to stick something up there, to push it in, and then he shuts his door," he said. "So, now he's got a weapon hidden, and maybe he wants to store it there for a day or two, or a couple of days."
Bielowicz said this is why the lockdown was important. "I think this is one of the most productive frisks we've had in a while," he said.
Bielowicz said another officer was assaulted Saturday by an inmate - the 11th corrections officer attacked in a sequence of violence that began Dec. 14 with a disturbance at an Islamic service that prompted a prison-wide lockdown last Tuesday.
Saturday's assault occurred when an officer was shoved by an inmate as he was being frisked in his cell. Neither the officer or the inmate were injured, but state police were called to the facility to charge the inmate.
"I think the DA is going to be busy out of this lockdown," he said. Cayuga County District Attorney James Vargason "has been great working with us. He'll decide whether we go forward with a case or not. That's usually how it works. (State police) will come in, they investigate, they give all the information to the DA."
The lockdown should be finished by Monday or Tuesday.
To reach Staff Writer Joey West, call 253-5311, ext. 239.
By ZACH HABERMAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 22, 2002 -- State correction officials are considering filing charges against inmates who attack prison guards following a rash of violence at a maximum-security prison already on lockdown near Syracuse.
"We're not going to put up with inmates attacking guards," said Jim Flateau, spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services.
The latest incident at the Auburn Correctional Facility, 25 miles southwest of Syracuse, occurred yesterday when an inmate shoved a guard after becoming enraged by the way other guards searched his cell. No one was injured in the incident.
On Friday, a guard was punched in the eye during a routine frisk. The guard was taken to a hospital, treated for a swollen eye, and released.
The assaults at the 1,800-inmate prison followed a series of attacks on guards that began last week and prompted state Correction Commissioner Glenn Goord to order the lockdown of the facility.
Flateau said correction officials will meet with the district attorney's office next week to consider criminal charges.
The first assault happened last week as an officer broke up a fight during Islamic services. On Wednesday, five guards were attacked as they opened cells to conduct searches for weapons and contraband.
The lockdown is expected to remain in effect through the weekend, Flateau said.
Dear Editor;
In the Dec. 20 edition of The Citizen, longtime NY State Department of Corrections (DOCs) spokesman James Flateau said, “As union President (Richard Harcrow),…he has absolutely no responsibility for the welfare of the employees in any prison in the State. Commissioner Goord carries that responsibility.”
Given the seriousness of incidents at the Auburn Correctional Facility this past week, in which approximately 10 correction officers were attacked, his statements are not only highly inaccurate, but also very telling.
When an inmate attacks an officer, the commissioner is the least likely individual to respond to his or her aid. If the commissioner was so concerned about the welfare of our assaulted officers, why one week later has he not contacted any of the assaulted employees to check on their well being?
Given the commissioner’s record on safety it is absurd to leave sole responsibility of safety to him and his administration. That record would have officers without defibrillators or slash resistant gloves, or protective legislation including the Heart Bill and Hepatitis C Law, as well as many other vital safety issues promulgated by the New York State Correction Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) -- and NOT commissioner Goord.
Further, NYSCOPBA actually had to sue this commissioner to stop DOCs from allowing convicted inmates access to personal and confidential information on officers and their families. Is this someone you really want with sole responsibility for officer’s welfare?
In the case of this week’s assaults and lockdown, administrators at Auburn, with input from the NYSCOPBA at the sector level, locked down the facility in a totally appropriate and cooperative manner. However under normal circumstances, the Goord Administration often ignores union input for a facility wide lock down until more staff is injured in subsequent assaults -- injuries that DOCs could prevent by listening to union input.
Given the Commissioner’s record on safety, correction officers and NYSCOPBA can not and will not rely on him to insure the safety of the men and women who carry out the dangerous job of keeping New York’s prisons safe and secure.
Sincerely,
Grant R. Marin
Western Region Vice President
New York State Correction Officers & Police Benevolent Association
An inmate convicted of killing a state trooper escaped from a hospital Tuesday but was caught 150 yards away, authorities said.
Colin Hyde, 31, was cleared for discharge from Vassar Brothers Hospital after treatment since Dec. 26 for a heart problem, corrections officials said.
Two officers were guarding Hyde in a room on the third floor at 10 a.m. when he shoved one officer into the other and fled the hospital, officials said. One officer called for help as the other pursued Hyde with a car, said James Flateau, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.
The officer tackled Hyde near a wooded area and a male registered nurse and an off-duty hospital security guard helped restrain him.
Hyde, serving 43 years to life for the 1994 shooting of a trooper in Otsego County, faces departmental and criminal charges, Flateau said. The maximum sentence for escape is an additional seven years in prison.
Department of Correctional Services
Glenn S. Goord, Commissioner
Contact: Spokesman James B. Flateau at 518-457-8182
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2002
_______________________________________________________________
A convicted cop killer, being treated at a Poughkeepsie hospital after complaining of a heart ailment, attacked two state Correction Officers and led pursuers on a 10-minute foot chase this morning before being recaptured following a struggle about 150 yards from Vassar Brothers Hospital.
Inmate Colin Hyde, serving 43½ years-to-life for the 1994 murder of a state trooper in Otsego County, fled Vassar moments after he learned he was about to be discharged back to the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility in nearby Stormville.
"While we must provide inmates with medical care that meets community standards, incidents such as this demonstrate the professionalism and vigilance our Correction Officers must show every day, making 122,000 inmate medical escorts each year to outside hospitals," said Commissioner Glenn S. Goord. He noted that the last inmate escape from an outside hospital was an Attica inmate recaptured a few hours after he fled from a Batavia hospital in 1998.
Commissioner Goord noted inmates may feign medical needs in order to be removed from high-security prisons to outside hospitals in hopes of escape. "That's why we constructed five maximum-security regional medical units (RMUs) that have reduced inmate outside hospital days by 58 percent, from 37,600 days in 1995 to 15,806 last year." The RMUs are located on the grounds of the Oneida, Bedford Hills, Coxsackie, Wende and Fishkill prisons.
Hyde, 31, was cleared for discharge early today from Vassar after being treated there since December 26 for a heart problem. At about 10 a.m., two Correction Officers were in a third-floor room guarding Hyde when he turned and pushed a female Officer into the male Officer. He ran out of the room, slammed the door behind him, raced down two flights of stairs to the front lobby and out of the hospital.
As the female Officer called the Poughkeepsie Police Department from Hyde's room and contacted Green Haven staff, the armed male Officer gave pursuit. Individuals in the lobby pointed out the direction in which the inmate had fled. Once outside the hospital and in the front parking lot, the male Officer commandeered the vehicle of an off-duty security guard who had come to the hospital for a visit. As the male Officer drove in the direction that the inmate was reported to be headed, the off-duty security guard and a male registered nurse pursued Hyde on foot.
The Officer came upon the inmate a short distance from the hospital, near a wooded area. The Officer exited the commandeered vehicle and tackled Hyde after the inmate stumbled and fell. The registered nurse and off-duty security guard then arrived at the scene, with the latter giving the Officer his handcuffs to subdue the inmate. The two men also assisted the Officer in restraining the struggling inmate.
The inmate was transported to the disciplinary housing unit at the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. Hyde now faces Departmental and criminal charges. Departmental charges could lead to a lengthy stay in 23-hour-a-day lockdown in a disciplinary housing unit. The maximum criminal penalty for escape is up to an additional seven years in prison.
The only injury sustained was to the female Officer, who suffered a strained shoulder but remained on duty.
Hyde is serving a minimum term of 43½ years for killing a state trooper with a sawed-off shotgun during the commission of a 1994 armed robbery in Otsego County. He was convicted of five crimes in connection with that incident: two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of first-degree criminal use of a firearm.
Hyde was subsequently convicted of first-degree assault in Clinton County Court following a 1998 incident at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, during which he stabbed another inmate with a seven-inch shank while the two were in the outdoor recreation yard. He received a determinate sentence of seven years for that conviction, which will run consecutively with his initial term.
Hyde was received into the state prison system on August 18, 1995. He has been housed since August 1, 2002, at the 2,096-bed maximum-security Green Haven prison in Dutchess County.
He is currently eligible for parole on November 21, 2037.
Introduction:
This is an explanation of the binding arbitration process as it applies to negotiations between the State and NYSCOPBA for the Security Services Unit.
The Binding Arbitration Bill: Pursuant to Chapter 586 of the Laws of 2001, as modified by Chapter 220 of the Laws of 2002, binding arbitration in contract negotiations was extended to those members of the Security Services Unit employed by the Department of Correctional Services and designated as "Peace Officers". Not all negotiations issues are eligible for binding arbitration. The law provides that issues directly relating to compensation, such as salary, stipends, location pay and insurance, are subject to binding arbitration, whereas non-compensatory issues, such as job security, disciplinary procedures, and deployment or scheduling, are not arbitrable.
Binding arbitration is a different form of dispute resolution, replacing fact-finding and the legislative hearing as the mechanism for resolving disputes over compensatory issues. Until the negotiations process reaches the Public Arbitration Panel stage, however, compensatory and non-compensatory issues are addressed in the same way.
The basic stages of the binding arbitration process are as follows:
Negotiations
The parties exchange bargaining proposals for a successor agreement. The proposals include both compensatory and non-compensatory issues.
Good faith negotiations must take place.
Impasse
Either party may declare impasse by filing a Declaration of Impasse with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), which administers the Taylor Law.
No specific time limits govern how long negotiations must proceed before a Declaration of Impasse may be filed; PERB's focus is on the inability of the parties to reach agreement despite their good faith efforts to do so.
Mediation
In response to a Declaration of Impasse, PERB appoints a mediator.
The mediator meets with the parties and attempts to assist them in reaching an agreement.
If the mediator is unable to bring about a settlement within 15 days of his appointment, either party may petition PERB for binding arbitration.
The Public Arbitration Panel
Upon a petition for binding arbitration filed by either party, PERB refers the dispute to a "Public Arbitration Panel("Panel").
The Panel consists of three members, one appointed by the union, one by the employer and one "public member" appointed jointly by the parties.
If the parties cannot agree on the public member, the selection is made from among a special list of arbitrators maintained by PERB. PERB provides the parties with the names of nine arbitrators from that list, and the State and NYSCOPBA take turns striking off names until only one remains. That person is appointed as the public member and serves as chairman of the Panel.
The Arbitration Hearing
The Panel holds hearings on all issues related to the dispute.
The parties present witnesses and documents in support of their positions. NYSCOPBA intends to produce members from around the State to testify as to the skills, difficulties and dangers of the job, and will offer expert witnesses, including a forensic economist who will prepare a comparative salary survey and another expert to address the State's ability to pay.
The public member acts as a judge, ruling on issues of evidence and procedure.
Witnesses are sworn and a stenographic transcript of the proceeding is made.
Because this case involves a large union, and because this is NYSCOPBA's first binding arbitration case, the number of witnesses and the amount of evidence introduced is expected to be substantial, with the hearings extending over a period of many months.
The Panels Arbitration Award
The Panel is empowered to make a "just and reasonable determination" of the matters in dispute.
In reaching a determination, the Panel must consider, among other things:
(a) A comparison of the salaries and working conditions of the bargaining unit employees with those of other employees performing similar services, and with other employees generally in public and private employment in comparable communities; and
(b) The interests and welfare of the public and the financial ability of the State to pay; and
(c) The unique aspects of the job, including its hazards and physical qualifications, as compared to other trades or professions.
All issues before the Panel are decided by a majority vote of its three members.
The determination of the Panel, which is issued in the form of an "award", is final and binding on the parties. It is not subject to ratification by the membership.
Non-Compensatory Issues. Those non-compensatory issues over which the Panel does not have jurisdiction would not be addressed in the award and must be resolved through the dispute resolution process that has applied in the past. If the parties reach an impasse, a mediator is appointed. If mediation fails, PERB appoints a fact-finding panel authorized to hold a hearing and issue a non-binding recommendation. If fact-finding does not produce an agreement, the case could proceed to a legislative hearing before the State Legislature, which is authorized to resolve the issues in dispute by talking such action as it deems to be in the public interest, including the interest of the public employees involved.
The Impact of a Decertification Petition on Binding Arbitration. If a successor agreement or an arbitration award is not in place by August 1, 2003, the challenge period becomes "open" and a decertification petition could be filed with PERB. Such a petition, if supported by a 30% showing of interest, would bring an end to the negotiations process, even if the arbitration hearings were in progress. The process would not resume until the results of the decertification election were completed and certified by PERB, which could take as long as one year.
Non-Corrections Employees. The Security Services Unit employees who are not covered by binding arbitration would not be included in the Panel's award. Whether and to what extent the terms of the award would be applied to them would have to be discussed between the State and NYSCOPBA.
In your January 7th article by Nik Bonopartis, when Susan Davis, CEO of Vassar Brother's Medical center was asked if Correction Officers stay with their inmates at all times, her response was, "Not all the time. They have to be reminded."
I am appalled by this person's remarks. Her statement is absolutely ludicrous. New York State Correction Officers would never leave an inmate that is in their custody unattended. The only people that need to be reminded of anything are the Vassar administrators. We constantly remind them that we are guarding convicted felons from a maximum-security prison, so yes we mind when you tell us to remove the cuffs and shackles because the patient looks uncomfortable! Yes we mind when you give the inmate metal forks, knives and spoons with his meals! Yes we mind when needles, scissors and unused IV poles are left in the room.
I think Ms. Davis needs to reconsider her statement or provide instances where we needed to be reminded to stay with our inmate.
Michael Mazzella
NYS Correction Officer
Newburgh, NY
More than 1,000 inmates at a Hudson Valley maximum-security prison remained locked in their cells yesterday after a series of violent incidents, authorities said.
Brawls at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility started on Sunday when an inmate was slashed in the face and the fights continued through Tuesday night.
''I will not tolerate inmate assaults on staff or other inmates,'' said Glenn Goord, commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services. ''We will not allow inmates to possess weapons of any sort in our prisons.''
Prison officials were still trying to determine what sparked the violence. Correction officers seized homemade weapons during an ongoing search of inmates' cells that was expected to continue through today.
''This is something that hasn't been done here in a while, as far as a complete lockdown like this,'' said Tim Osborne, chief sector steward at the facility.
In June 2000, the prison was locked down after an inmate was stabbed to death. The latest lockdown began Wednesday and affects all 1,012 inmates at the facility, 15 miles south of Albany.
In December, prison officials ended a six-day lockdown at the Auburn Correctional Facility. The security measure followed a series of violent outbursts involving inmates and guards.
(New York)
By MATT GRYTA
Buffalo News Staff Reporter
1/28/2003
ALBION - Robert Smith, a former state corrections officer, Monday was ordered to spend the next 15 years in state prison for stabbing his estranged wife in her parents' home in the Town of Shelby last March.
Orleans County Judge James P. Punch imposed the maximum allowable prison term. The sentence came after Smith's month-old guilty plea to first-degree assault and weapons charges for the attack on his estranged wife, Lizabeth, an Albion High School teacher, in her parents' home last March 11.
Jailed since he crashed his car into a tree in Albion shortly after the stabbing, Smith, 33, a former Orleans Correctional Facility guard, pleaded guilty as he was scheduled to go on trial last month on attempted murder and other charges.
Orleans County District Attorney Joseph V. Cardone confirmed that Smith, a Ridgeway resident, stabbed his wife after breaking into her parents' home. The victim, who recovered, was staying with her parents because of ongoing marital problems, court officials said.
Smith was fired by state prison officials shortly after.
Please sign My Guest Book - I like to know my Visitors
Sign My Guest book
View
My Guest book
ACOAP
* All States DOCS * Facility
Addresses * Forgotten Cop
* Gang Pages * History
Pages * Index * In Memory
* My Links * NY Online
Newspapers * News Articles * Site
Map
* Spanish in the Correctional Settings Want
a Web Page?
