Mental Health and Disorders
AUBURN - The jurors believed the prison guards
Out of Prison, Into a Business Crusade
Ex-Rikers Guard Gets Up To 3 Years
Attica Riots From Buffalo News 1/15/04
Testimony of Richard Harcrow, President
The Courts Expand the Scope of Workers* Compensation AIDS Claims
Prison Commissioner Goord says 'Fewer crimes mean fewer inmates'
Statement From NYSCOPBA in Response to DOCS' Prison Downsizing Plan:
Oneonta Daily Star News Article- Area Prison To Close
Prison ex-chief charge
Sing Sing C.F Failed Breakouts...
Prisons to get new units for mentally ill inmates
GUARDIANS OPPOSES THE CLOSING OF FULTON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY IN THE BRONX NYC!

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Prisons and Prisoners

The United States has the largest and most expensive prison system in the world. The inmate population has grown by nearly 80 percent over the last decade, partly because more than half the inmates commit new crimes soon after release and quickly end up back inside.

Two new reports from prison study groups suggest that mentally ill inmates are prime candidates not just for recidivism, but for destructive behavior and suicide when prisons fail to handle them properly. The studies, by Human Rights Watch and the Correctional Association of New York, show that prisons have actually become mental institutions by default. But they have largely failed to develop treatment programs that would permit mentally ill inmates to establish a routine that would allow them to control their symptoms and their lives.

The Correctional Association study offers a grim picture of the New York prison system where, according to state data, nearly a quarter of prisoners in disciplinary lockdown — confined to a small cell 23 hours a day — are mentally ill. The prisoners are sent to lockdown for failing to obey prison rules — easy to understand given that many of these men and women suffer hallucinations and delusions that get worse when they are sent into confinement.

Lockdowns require fewer corrections officers and are therefore cheaper to run. But psychiatrists have long known that severely punitive measures do not work with psychotic inmates and often cause them to act out their frustrations even more. Nearly 45 percent of the prisoners in the New York study reported that they had tried suicide, more than a third reported self-mutilation and 20 percent had been previously admitted to a psychiatric hospital. When their prison terms are finished, these inmates are dumped onto the streets, where they become a hazard to themselves and to the community.

These reports deserve to be widely read in Congress and in state legislatures, where lawmakers are just waking up to a serious problem.

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After deliberating three hours, a jury Friday night convicted inmate Dino Caroselli of assaulting two corrections officers in December. Caroselli and four other inmates at the Auburn Correctional Facility testified during the four-day trial that a corrections officer started the fight.

Already serving 35 years to life for a bank robbery and shoot-out with police in the early 90s, Caroselli, 51, will be sentenced as a persistent violent felon. He faces a maximum of 25 years to life on each conviction when entenced in Cayuga County Court Jan. 13.

During his closing statements, Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann asked jurors to use logic. Budelmann questioned why Corrections Officer Anthony Volpe, a 19-year veteran prison guard at Auburn with an unblemished record, would attack an inmate in a crowded hallway just as his shift was ending.

Concerning the second charge, Caroselli testified that Corrections Officer James Wright assaulted him. Caroselli maintained on the witness stand Friday that officers beat him before and after he was handcuffed.

Budelmann questioned why six corrections officers would construct a "big conspiracy." He said that unlike the four felons who testified for Caroselli, the officers' statements have never changed. The inmates had different versions of the story.

The prosecutor said it's "much easier" to keep the truth straight than a "bunch of lies."

"Their stories have not changed," Budelmann said of the officers' testimony. "(The inmate's) stories were fanciful."

Unlike the inmates, Budelmann said, the officers have "everything to lose" if they lie.

Before deliberating, jurors watched a video taken of Caroselli after the assault.

Budelmann noted that in the footage, Caroselli seemed to forget at times that the camera was on him and only "moaned" in pain when he remembered.

Caroselli said he was kicked and beaten and had injuries to his head, leg and hand.

"I was getting beaten, kicked, stomped," he said. ""I crapped in my pants. I just lost all control of my body functions. It was all mashed in."

However, minutes after the incident, Caroselli was taken before a doctor. The inmate never mentioned leg or hand injuries until after being left alone in a cell.

Following the conviction, Budelmann said he was pleased with the verdict, but not surprised.

"I had faith in the officers right from the start," he said.

He said Caroselli "was the leader" of the crew who testified for him. He noted that Caroselli had $6,000 in his prison bank account.

Caroselli's assigned attorney, Douglas Bates, focused on why his client was "covered with bruises" during his closing statements.

"This individual was given a severe beating," he told jurors.

During the post-assault footage, an officer was heard saying Caroselli "smells like a dead goat."

He said the corrections officers "rehearsed, staged and discussed" their testimony before the trial.

Saying "Remember Rodney King," Bates in his closing likened Caroselli to King.

"He was a questionable character, but that did not justify what the Los Angeles Police Department did to him," he said. "The defendant was justified in the defense of himself on this particular case.'

Budelmann said the prison "is not the 'Old West.'"

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Efforts to Fight Inmates' Crippling Phone Rates Meet Stiff Resistance

Nov. 3 — When Brian Prins was released from prison in May 2002, the first thing he did — before he saw his parents, before he met with his friends, before he bought himself a decent meal — was head to a small, spanking new office on Long Island, N.Y.

His goal: to start a business that would reduce the crippling phone rates prisoners' families pay to keep in touch with their loved ones. But after 16 months, his company, Outside Connection Inc., is almost bankrupt because a powerful alliance of big business and state government has taken aim at his operation.

The result is a classic battle that pits prisons, which cite the high costs of their phone security, against inmates' families and prison advocates, who claim the arrangement violates freedom of speech, gouges customers, and protects a monopoly. (Prins' family phone bills ran as high as $1,000 a month when he was incarcerated.) Lawsuits are pending in New York and other states.

"Effectively, this is a tax that's been imposed on inmates' families without legislation," says Barbara Olshansky, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights who has filed class-action suits on behalf of families.

The battle stems from the strange and little-known workings of the prison telephone industry.

Most states require inmates to make collect phone calls. And because these states (with a few notable exceptions, like Nebraska) have struck lucrative, exclusive deals with major telecom companies, they force inmate families to pay collect rates as much as four times higher than regular customers pay.

In New York, the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) has a contract with MCI/WorldCom that gives the company exclusive control over prison telephone services and allows it to boost long-distance rates to 16 cents a minute on top of a $3 hookup fee for every call. Until August, MCI and DOCS charged as much as 36 cents a minute for long-distance calls, but opted to reduce those rates and double the cost of local calls, which also require a $3 fee.

In exchange, the state keeps more than 60 percent of MCI's revenue from prison calls. Last year, DOCS netted roughly $24 million.

Prison officials defend the policy, explaining that the higher cost pays for extra security measures that allow them to monitor the numbers inmates dial, whom they talk to, and what they talk about.

Without these measures, they say, inmates could hatch escape plots or dial numbers that have not been approved by prison authorities.

To avoid undermining prison security, "there is no third-party calling," says Linda Foglia, a DOCS spokeswoman. The department contends Prins' company supplies an "illegal call-forwarding service" and acknowledges punishing a number of inmates for using it.

l Disclosure

But Prins describes the department's security concerns as more ruse than reality. "I designed the system not to interfere with security," he says, explaining that his service does not stop prisons from recording phone conversations and that he offered to supply the agency with daily billing information for inmate calls.

"I said they could have full access to my server, everything, including my books. But it is not in the department's best interest to allow me to do business," adds Prins. He spent five years in prison on charges of aggravated assault and criminal possession of stolen-car transmissions he intended to sell to support his cocaine addiction. Prins kicked his cocaine habit in prison.

At first, Prins' "call-routing" strategy showed promise. He provides families with a telephone number that is local to their relative's prison. When the inmate dials that number, Outside Connection reroutes the calls to the family's home number, sparing them MCI's hefty long-distance rates.

Within his first few months in business, Prins says he signed up hundreds of customers, including Gillian Bennett of Albany.

She works two jobs to help pay the $300 to $600 monthly phone bills to talk to her husband at the Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, N.Y. "My paycheck goes into my phone bill, but I don't want to work to pay a phone bill," she says.

After her first month with Outside Connection, her phone bill dropped to less than $50. But she didn't get to enjoy the service for long.

Weeks later, MCI began blocking her husband's calls home. Then the Department of Corrections threatened him with 90 days in solitary confinement for breaking prison rules (a punishment later reduced after he pleaded guilty to call-forwarding charges). Ms. Bennett's husband was just one of many inmates who got punished.

Within no time, families began canceling their accounts with Outside Connection. The company now has lost two-thirds of its customers since its peak last fall, and Prins has laid off two of his seven employees and taken a 75 percent pay cut.

Prins is not the first small businessman to offer cheaper phone service to inmates' families.

Companies have tried for several years in New Hampshire, Ohio, and other states with varying degrees of failure and success, according to Kay Perry, the director of the Campaign to Promote Equitable Telephone Charges, a national effort that was launched by CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) in January 2000.

And while some have managed to operate below the radar, others, like Louisiana's Bellsouth Corp., have encountered the same blocks and threats as Outside Connection.

Suits Pending

Such crackdowns have spawned counterattacks.

In 2000, Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights filed two class-action lawsuits in New York State against MCI and the DOCS, seeking $90 million in damages for inmates' families and an end to the contract.

In March of this year, Prins filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission charging that MCI and the Corrections Department broke the law by harassing his customers and interfering with his business. The agency has previously called for more competition in the prison telephone industry.

But Prins is worried a decision might not come in time. "If I don't get help from the FCC, I'm destroyed," he says.

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A Rikers Island correction officer who admitted he and three other guards swiped a rare Salvador Dali painting from the jailhouse wall was sentenced to 1 to 3 years to prison Monday.

Mitchell Hochhauser, 40, was handcuffed and taken into custody immediately after the sentence in State Supreme Court in the Bronx.

Dressed in a black shirt and black pants, Hochhauser, of Queens and the father of three young children, made brief remarks before the sentence by Justice Steven Barrett.

"I just want to apologize to my wife and children, my family, the court" he said. "(And) thank the New York City Department of Correction for hiring me and supporting me."

A woman in the courtroom identified as a family member began to cry once Hochhauser left the courtroom. She was escorted out by several family members.

"He's paying a price for what he did and he's not complaining and his life goes forward from there," Martin Adelman, an attorney for Hochhauser said outside the courtroom.

The Dali painting, estimated to be worth $250,000, is considered a rare ink drawing that depicts the crucifixion. The painting hung in the visitors' center before it was swiped in a scheme allegedly hatched by deputy warden Benny Nuzzo, Hochhauser said during his guilty plea.

The plot went into action March 1 when the four staged a Rikers fire drill a half mile from the artwork to distract top correction brass. Once the area was clear, they replaced the artwork with a fake, Hochhauser said.

During a court hearing on Sept. 29, Hochhauser said Nuzzo told him and two others that he destroyed the painting after rumors surfaced in the jail that the theft was an inside job.

In a mild rebuke to Hochhauser, Barrett said the theft of the artwork wasn't only a crime but that the stolen artwork had been a "pleasure for people" to watch. The judge also reminded him how he risked his family and job.

Barrett said Hochhauser "risked it all and as it turned out risked it foolishly for the hope of a gain that ran awry."

Nuzzo and another guard, Timothy Pina, face up to 15 years in prison if convicted on a grand larceny charge. Another guard, Greg Sokol, is cooperating with prosecutors and may be offered leniency.

Tom Antenen, a spokesman for the city's correction department, said he didn't know if Hochhauser will be held at Rikers Island while state officials decide in which prison he will serve the sentence.

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ALBANY - Gov. George E. Pataki's proposed budget should include $15 million to resolve the long-standing reparations claims by a group representing prison workers killed or injured in the 1971 Attica uprising, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

Assemblyman Jeffrion L. Aubry, D-Queens, a member of a state government panel investigating demands by the Forgotten Victims of Attica, said Wednesday the state also owes the prison workers a formal apology for storming the prison. Eleven prison workers died during the uprising.

"You would hope the governor is serious enough about this issue" to include a settlement figure in his budget plan next Tuesday, Aubry said. Doing so would engage the administration and Legislature in settling the long-standing dispute in this spring's budget negotiations.

"This is not something he or we want to see go on for another 30 years," said Aubry, chairman of the Assembly corrections committee.

Also Wednesday, the Attica group made yet another pilgrimage to Albany to press its five-point list of demands. The group wants $20 million in reparations to family members of the workers killed and those injured by state police during the storming of the prison, an official apology from the state, state-funded counseling, access to all sealed documents about the riot and a law guaranteeing them the right to a memorial service each year at the prison.

The group condemned the draft of a report by Glenn Goord, the Pataki administration's prison chief, who called for $8 million in reparations - equal to the amount given to a group of 504 Attica inmates and their family members - and no apology, no access to all Attica records and no extra counseling money.

Michael Smith, a former guard held hostage during the uprising, called any notion of basing the workers' reparations award on the amount given inmates "illogical and ludicrous."

A spokesman for Goord was unavailable to comment.

Wednesday, in a response to the Goord proposal, Aubry, with Arthur O. Eve of Buffalo, former deputy Assembly speaker and member of the state panel looking into the Attica issue, recommended a $15 million payout to the prison employees. Gary Horton, the Attica group's attorney, called the $15 million level "a meaningful figure" but said the group will continue to press for $20 million.

The four-day standoff at the prison left 32 inmates and 11 employees dead. Most were shot by state police during the storming of the prison ordered by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

Former State Sen. John Dunne, a Republican, joined the Attica members Wednesday in pressing the state for an apology. Dunne, the head of the Senate prisons committee at the time, was at Attica during the rioting as an observer.

"A wrong was done by the state," said Dunne, who, as a former top official in the Justice Department, helped convince the federal government to apologize to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. "We should recognize we have made mistakes. We should have closure."

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Testimony of Richard Harcrow, President
NY State Correction Officers & Police Benevolent Association
Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Thank you Chairmen Aubry and Rivera for this opportunity to submit testimony regarding how to effectively, humanely, and safely deal with inmates who suffer from mental illnesses.

My name is Richard Harcrow, President of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), which represents some 23,000-law enforcement personnel, including correction officers and sergeants in the prison system, and Security Hospital Treatment Assistants and Safety and Security Officers in mental health institutions managed by the State Office of Mental Health.

Due to the significance of this issue, I am happy that the committee has chosen to conduct public hearings on the matter. Due to a scheduling conflict I was unable to personally attend your last hearing, but I am pleased to be here personally to take part in today's hearing.

The topic, "Disciplinary Confinement and the Treatment of Prison Inmates With Serious Mental Illness," is of great interest to NYSCOPBA and we eagerly reviewed A.8849 and would like to offer the following comments.

According to your hearing notice, the Office of Mental Health (OMH) has identified more than 8,000 inmates out of approximately 65,000 inmates who have been identified as suffering from serious mental illness, which is over 12% of the inmate population who are incarcerated in New York State's prison system.

Inmates with serious mental illnesses present unique challenges and concerns regarding their treatment and safety. As the front line security staff at both DOCS and OMH, NYSCOPBA members have significant contact with these inmates and are acutely aware of the need to have adequate programs and resources beneficial to them. At the same time, we must make sure that safety and security is never compromised, and that staff have the resources and support required including, but not limited to, enhanced training.

We must never lose sight of the fact that this is a prison system and as such, maintaining the highest level of safety and security must be our primary objective. While increasing the availability of mental health programs would likely benefit the thousands of inmates suffering from mental illness and may increase safety, it is essential that critical decisions regarding confinement and disciplinary actions continue to be the responsibility of correctional department staff.

The very definition of a correction officers' job is to make sure facilities remain safe and secure, and NYSCOPBA members understand that inmates with mental illness sometimes exhibit dangerous or erratic behavior which may put an entire facility at risk.

Correction officers understand this situation because they deal with it on a daily basis. They are concerned not only for the safety and security of inmates with mental illnesses, but also for other inmates, staff and civilians who may be on hand.

I have spent almost twenty years of my career at a maximum-security prison - Attica Correctional Facility. One of the roles I served at that facility was dealing directly with inmates who exhibited mental health problems and required special attention.

We have reviewed the legislation that you developed regarding ways to improve the prison system's ability to identify treatment and manage these inmates and offer the following comments:

This legislation appears to shift responsibility for these inmates from the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) staff to the OMH staff. This change may cause confusion between the two agencies on how to handle certain situations that may arise. This can dramatically increase the danger of even the smallest situation, and can put everyone at the facility at risk. (See Subdivision 4.01-A § 6 of the bill.)

Further, as our union also represents the Safety and Security Officers (SSO's) and Security Hospital Treatment Assistants (SHTA's) at OMH hospitals, we are highly concerned with these issues that affect those members.

All too frequently - sometimes many times, even daily at a single facility -- our SHTA's and SSO's are being brutally attacked by violent convicted felons or those determined to be criminally insane in these facilities.

Just because a civil servant accepts the dangerous job of an SHTA or SSO, this does not mean the inmate-patients have a right to attack them. Too many times these brave officers receive broken bones, concussions, and human bites, among other serious and dangerous injuries.

Recently the Governor vetoed a bill that would have granted peace officer status to SHTA's working in these dangerous OMH facilities. Providing peace officer status to SHTA's would have mandated training under the criminal procedure law for these individuals - training that would have increased safety within the entire facility. Notwithstanding this veto, other peace officer status bills were signed into law including a bill that grants certain animal control officers with peace officer status.

This legislation also appears to expand the role of the Commission for Quality Care for the Mentally Disabled (Commission), which is a cause for concern. The bill allows this Commission access to areas within a prison that are used for disciplinary confinement, but doesn't explain why the agency gets or needs this access. It also allows the Commission to make recommendations on confinement and disciplinary issues, when the agency's true expertise lies in dealing with mental disabilities.

The staff of the prison - namely, correction officers and corrections department administration - should handle confinement and disciplinary issues and should be allowed to make the ultimate decisions how to properly care for these inmates, while keeping a facility's security intact.

We also are in favor of the goals that have been outlined in this bill, most importantly, allowing inmates with mental illnesses the opportunity to participate in programs and treatment that would best suit them and ensuring that correction officers have the resources they need - especially training - to effectively manage these inmates.

Toward that goal, we welcome the opportunity to participate in enhanced training programs that will help our correctional security staff identify and refer inmates that may need special attention. NYSCOPBA members and its officials would like to continue to work with you on developing these training programs and proposals.

We also think this is important for our members on the front lines within the Office of Mental Health workplace.

Although not directly an issue raised in the legislation which is the subject of this hearing, I would like to commend Assemblyman Mike Cusick for his interest in the administration of drugs to the inmate population. We look forward to working with him to address this critical issue to ensure that inmates are taking prescribed medications in accord with physician direction.

In closing, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide comments. The NYSCOPBA staff looks forward to working with you on this and other issues of mutual interest and concern.

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Donald T. DeCarlo

Two cases recently decided by the New York State Courts are troublesome, as there is a clear trend to allow extensions of workers* compensation AIDS claims, beyond what this author considers the intent of the Workers* Compensation Laws.

The first case is McLarney v. Community Health Plan, #81958, decided by the New York Appellate Division, Third Department. (This Court hears all workers* compensation appeals in the State from the New York Workers* Compensation Board.) The McLarney case, was an "AIDS phobia" case. The facts, involve a cleaning worker who was stuck by a needle but could not show he was actually exposed to the AIDS virus, and claimed the need for a drug to prevent the disease.

The case arose in 1995 when Daniel McLarney was stuck by a needle as he removed a bag of trash from a dental examining room at an HMO in Troy, New York. He took the needle with him to a hospital emergency room, but a nurse apparently discarded it after concluding it did not contain enough material to test for HIV. Following the standard medical regimen, doctors advised Mr. McLarney to proceed as though he might have been infected with the virus. They prescribed AZT and he was tested for HIV. He stopped taking the drug after he developed serious side effects, including dizziness, nausea, chest pains and palpitations. He was later found to have a hiatal hernia and an esophageal ulcer, which may have been caused either by the AZT or by the stress resulting from his fear of developing AIDS. His suit against the HMO for physical and emotional injuries was dismissed by New York Supreme Court on summary judgment due to his failure to show he was actually exposed to the virus.

In an opinion by Justice Paul J. Yesawich Jr., he agreed that the claim alleging emotional or psychological injuries, including "injuries assertedly caused by stress or fear," were properly dismissed. However, the Court ruled that no proof is required to maintain a claim for physical injuries caused by the drug AZT, which is often prescribed as a preventive measure, because the use of the drug was unrelated to the plaintiff*s "subjective fear" of developing AIDS.

The Federal Courts are even more liberal on AIDS related cases than the State Courts. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Marchica v. Long Island Railroad Co., 31 F3d 1197, that proof of exposure to the AIDS virus is not required under the Federal Employers* Liability Act. Plaintiffs may recover if they suffer a needle stick in circumstances "that would cause a reasonable person to develop a fear of AIDS." The New York State Courts have required proof of actual exposure to the AIDS virus as a means to assure the "genuineness" of AIDS-phobia claims.

The second case, decided in January 1999, by the New York State Appellate Court, rejected New York City*s contentions that the two-year limitations period in the Workers* Compensation Law should apply to consequential psychiatric injuries of a New York City hospital employee.

The Court allowed a claim to be filed for "AIDS phobia" eight years after the Claimant was stuck by a used hypodermic needle.

The Court, held that since the hospital worker had filed a timely claim for physical injury within two years of the needle stick, the two year limitations period did not bar her from amending her timely claim to include compensation for consequential "post-traumatic neurosis" - the worker*s fear of contracting AIDS - which arose from the same incident.

The above unanimous decision in Matter of Crawford v. New York City Health and Hospital Corp., 81901, stated that the two-year time bar in Workers* Compensation Law §28 does not apply to consequential injuries, including psychological injuries. The decision represents a significant change in the law and one that could prove costly to employers throughout the state. This case eliminates any statute of limitations for consequential injuries. One of the purposes of a statute of limitations is to prevent ‘stale claims and fraudulent claims.

Section 28 provides that "the right to claim compensation shall be barred, except as hereinafter provided, unless within two years after the accident ... a claim for compensation shall be filed with the chairman." New York City maintained that because there is no specific exception for consequential injuries in the statute, the two year statute of limitation applies.

In Crawford however, the Court found that the hospital worker*s claim for "AIDS reaction phobia" was related to the needle stick that occurred in 1987. The worker was awarded compensation in 1988 for partial loss of use of her left arm, and her case was reopened in 1993 to consider her subsequent disability claim for continued pain in her left hand. She first asserted her AIDS phobia claim in 1995. The New York Appellate Division followed its ruling in a earlier case, which held that the two year statute of limitation doesn*t apply if related to an earlier physical injury that is timely filed.

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For immediate release:
11 a.m. on Friday, January 23, 2004

Prison Commissioner Goord says 'Fewer crimes mean fewer inmates;'
projects state prison population will decline for fifth consecutive year

"Fewer crimes mean fewer inmates," Commissioner Glenn S. Goord said today, as he announced projections showing the prison population is expected to drop by 1,000 inmates in Fiscal Year 2004-05.

While that decline in the prison population comes among nonviolent offenders, violent felons are serving longer sentences and being denied parole. In fact, that growing percentage of inmates serving prison sentences for violent crimes is the highest in 15 years. The increase required a record-setting construction program to build the prison cells to house them to protect the public and prison staff.

Those prison cells for violent offenders are necessary because FBI statistics show New York's criminal justice policies have contributed to a 45 percent decline in total index crimes in New York State between 1994-2002, with a 49 percent drop in violent crime. Nationally, FBI data show a more modest 23 percent decline in index crimes, with a 31 percent decline in violent crimes.

The prison population is expected to decline to the Fiscal 2003-04 target of 65,100 inmates by March 31, 2004. Commissioner Goord projects a further decline in Fiscal 2004-05 that will bring the prison population to 64,100 inmates by March 31, 2005.

Should that occur, it would mark the fifth year in a row in which the Department of Correctional Services saw a decline in the inmate population. Due to the decline to date, the prison system will reduce capacity by 1,114 excess beds in the two months remaining in this fiscal year.

"The decreasing inmate population is, in part, driven by Governor George E. Pataki's anti-crime agenda that has produced historic declines in crime on our streets," Commissioner Goord said. "At the same time, the Governor's prison policies have been effective in reducing inmate violence in prison. His policies also occupy more inmates than ever in productive programs. That contributes to fewer crimes on our streets and lower rates of inmates returning to prison for the commission of new crimes."

New York's inmate population decline is among the medium- and minimum-security inmates housed in barracks and dormitories across the state. It is driven, in large part, by the Governor's "right-sizing" policy: Allowing 56,370 nonviolent offenders to earn early release since 1995 by participating in rehabilitative programs, while building maximum-security prison cells to house the violent and predatory felons who are serving longer prison terms under his sentencing reforms. His construction of 2,475 double-occupancy cells is the largest maximum-security construction project in state history.

The Governor's tough sentencing reforms have driven the number of inmates incarcerated for violent crimes up to 56 percent of the prison population, compared to only 52 percent in 1994. Today's is the highest percentage since the 59 percent recorded in 1988.

His mandate that nonviolent inmates seeking early release participate in programs contributes to their increased success - and the commission of fewer crimes - once they are released from prison. Among inmates released in 1998 and tracked for three years, there has been a 33 percent decline in the proportion of parolees returned to prison for new crimes, compared to those released in 1988.

The number of inmates eligible for work release has also declined sharply, contributing to safer communities across the state. In 1995, Governor Pataki barred from work release those offenders who committed violent acts. That resulted in a 77 percent decline in inmate participants, from an average of 6,300 inmates a day in 1994 to an average of 1,473 a day in 2003. It also led to a 93 percent drop in work release inmates arrested for allegedly committing new crimes, from 1,968 in 1994 to 144 in 2003.

Inmate-on-staff assaults occurred at a rate of 8.6 incidents per 1,000 inmates last year, the lowest rate since 1979, when the Department first began tracking such data. The declining incident rate is in part due to reducing idleness by programming more inmates in the academic, vocational, work and drug treatment programs necessary for nonviolent inmates to earn early release.

The Governor's anti-crime agenda and prison reforms have driven the prison population from a high of 71,898 inmates in December 1999 to today's 65,125. The number of "state readies" in county jails awaiting transfer to state prison has also declined, by 96 percent, from 4,271 "state readies" in July 1999 to 188 today. There are 1,100 empty general confinement beds today in prisons housing males.

To address the declining inmate population and the increasing number of excess beds in the prison system, Commissioner Goord proposed four initiatives to be implemented in the next 14 months: Continuing a takedown plan begun three years ago, 892 top double bunks will be vacated by March 31 at the medium-security Cape Vincent, Riverview, Watertown, Marcy, Orleans and Collins prisons. Inmates in those beds will be housed in empty beds in other prisons. These 892 beds will be "vacated," meaning they will remain unoccupied but left in place in case of emergency need. About 260 staff will be reassigned from these six prisons. This initiative will reduce costs as reassigned staff fill vacant posts at other prisons now being staffed with overtime.

• * Transferring the 222 inmates remaining at the Fulton work release prison in The Bronx to vacant slots in the closest work release prisons, Edgecombe and Lincoln in Manhattan, by March 31. Completing a Fiscal 2001-02 initiative, the last 107 staff remaining at the minimum-security Fulton facility will be offered reassignment and the prison closed, saving $7 million annually.
  
  
• * In the 2004-05 fiscal year, half of a projected 1,000-inmate population decline will be accommodated by closing both the 258-bed, minimum-security Camp Pharsalia and the 300-bed, minimum-security camp attached to the medium-security Mt. McGregor prison. The 189 employees at the two camps will be offered reassignment. This initiative saves $11 million in annual operating costs and avoids $5 million in new construction necessary in the next few years to maintain these facilities.
  
  
• * Negotiating a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), allowing it to expand its detention space in New York by filling the remaining 500 projected empty beds. The beds would be used to house criminal aliens awaiting deportation proceedings. Those deportable aliens would come from among the 1,700 inmates DOCS now releases annually to ICE custody for deportation purposes. ICE would pay $85 per diem for each detainee, generating a maximum annual payment to the state of $15 million, offsetting bed costs. If a contract cannot be executed, 500 more beds will be vacated or closed. That would require a reduction of an undetermined number of staff depending upon which beds are affected.
  

Staff vacancies will be sufficient to offer reassignment to the approximately 556 employees affected at these nine facilities. Due to a hiring freeze implemented three years ago, there are now approximately 360 uniformed and 580 civilian vacancies in the system. Approximately 30 uniformed and as many more civilian vacancies occur every bi-weekly payroll period, through normal attrition, as staff leave state employment.

At the same time, Commissioner Goord said, a statewide audit is continuing to assess inmate-to-staff ratios, such as for teachers and counselors, as the system downsizes. Prison programming is also being audited to ensure each facility has the appropriate number of vocational instructors and other personnel. The audit process will ultimately lead later this year to a realignment of staffing. That will ensure all facilities have the appropriate staff to meet these goals in providing meaningful levels of programming for all inmates.

The plan to reduce the number of prison beds as the inmate population fell was announced in 2000-01 when Commissioner Goord publicly targeted a total of 6,600 beds in 36 prisons for takedown. "This takedown plan will make these facilities even safer and easier to manage while placing less stress on their physical plants," he explained in an April 24, 2001, press release. It added 22 targeted facilities to the original list of 14 targeted facilities included in his Oct. 20, 2000, press release that first announced the takedown plan. Both press releases are available on the DOCS website.

The 6,600 beds fell into three categories: top double bunks in mostly barracks-style housing units, "squeeze beds" that were added to mostly dormitory-style housing units and beds whose removal would improve operational efficiency, such as those obstructing doors or walkways or that obstructed officers' sight lines.

Since then, 5,500 (or 83 percent) of the targeted beds have already been vacated while 1,087 (or 81 percent) of the temporary jobs attendant to the targeted beds have been attrited voluntarily by staff. The lag in attriting jobs confirms DOCS kept its promise to only attrit staff after inmate beds were vacated.

Commissioner Goord said "Our goals for the next 14 months begin with making our prisons even safer by vacating more double bunks in medium-security prisons. Recognizing the decrease in inmates eligible for minimum-security placement, we are targeting some of those beds as well. Throughout the process, our goal will be to reassign jobs to ensure full staffing that safeguards our employees and the inmate population. Both uniformed and civilian staff will be reassigned in accordance with their contractual agreements as well as Civil Service laws and rules."

Attached is a data sheet providing the facility-specific impact of these initiatives.

The numbers behind DOCS' 14-month inmate population reduction plan

The numbers below provide more specifics on the initiatives presented in Commissioner Glenn S. Goord's January 23, 2004, press release on staffing and inmate population initiatives for the balance of Fiscal 2003-04 and the upcoming Fiscal 2004-05:

• * Cape Vincent in Jefferson County will net 242 uniformed jobs (a decrease of 79) and 882 beds (a decrease of 240 beds). It will also lose three civilian jobs: a teacher, a chaplain and a senior drug treatment counselor.
  
  
• * Riverview in Ogdensburg in St. Lawrence County will net 242 uniformed jobs (a decrease of 71 jobs) and 882 beds (a decrease of 240 beds). It will also lose six civilian jobs: a chaplain, a teacher, a counselor and three vocational instructors.
  
  
• * Watertown in Jefferson County will net 244 uniformed jobs (a decrease of 18 jobs) and 670 beds (a decrease of 83 beds.) It has a higher inmate-to-staff ratio than neighboring Cape Vincent or Riverview because it is not a purpose-built prison. Its layout requires additional officers to provide proper security coverage. Watertown will also lose two civilian jobs: a teacher and a recreation program leader.
  
  
• * Orleans in Albion in Orleans County will net 275 uniformed jobs (a decrease of 34 jobs) and 1,082 beds (a decrease of 150 beds). It will also lose one civilian job: a vocational instructor.
  
  
• * Marcy in Oneida County will net 315 uniformed jobs (a decrease of 33 jobs) and 1,281 beds (a decrease of 120 beds). It will also lose three civilian jobs: a teacher, a recreation program leader and a counselor.
  
  
• * Collins in Erie County will net 403 uniformed jobs (a decrease of 10 jobs) and 1,253 beds (a decrease of 59 beds). Collins will not lose any civilian staff under this initiative.
  
  
• * Fulton in The Bronx has seen its population drop from 741 inmates in December 1994 to 222 earlier this month. A total of 35 staff have already attrited voluntarily from its work force. That leaves a total of 107 staff, including 59 uniformed and 48 civilian, to be reassigned as the facility is closed.
  
  
• * Camp Pharsalia in South Plymouth in Chenango County has a total of 105 employees, including 71 uniformed and 34 civilian. Closing it will save $6 million in annual operating costs. In addition, that will avoid the need to spend $4 million in the next two years for necessary capital construction projects. They include a new sewage treatment plant and rehabilitation of the electrical system.
  
  
• * McGregor camp in Wilton in Saratoga County is operated from within the budget of the adjacent 544-bed, medium-security Mt. McGregor prison. While DOCS identifies the final number of employees apportioned to the camp, the total is expected to be approximately 84, including 74 uniformed and 10 civilian personnel. Closing it will save $5 million in annual operating costs. That will avoid the need to spend $1 million in the next two years for necessary capital construction projects. They include such projects as fire alarm systems, masonry repair projects and electrical system upgrades.
  

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Statement From NYSCOPBA in Response to DOCS' Prison Downsizing Plan:

Closing facilities should never be a budget cutting solution in a state prison system that has long exceeded its maximum capacity and currently operates at approximately 110% of inmate capacity.

Anytime something is run at 110% of its maximum capacity - an engine, a person or a prison system - very serious problems and breakdowns can arise. Given this current overcapacity, closures and cuts seem to be a very shortsighted approach to managing the demands upon this prison system.

The union intends to work through the budgetary process and, with the governor and legislature, assess the compounded problems this plan can inflict on the already overburdened New York State Prison System, and seek potential alternative solutions.

While we understand the state has a continuing budgetary shortfall that must be dealt with, these cutbacks are also a matter of serious public safety and of economic concern to the communities affected by closures and downsizing.

The union will do everything it can to limit disruption to our members, their families and communities affected by this decision.

The proposed downsizing plan by DOCS looks to reallocate some 556 total jobs -- of which 436 are uniformed correction jobs, many but not all of whom are members of the NYSCOPBA bargaining unit.

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Oneonta Daily Star News Article- Area Prison To Close

January 26, 2004
Area prison to close
Minimum-security Camp Pharsalia is 1 of 3 facilities to be shut down

ALBANY - Camp Pharsalia, a 258-bed minimum-security facility in Chenango County, will be shut down as part of the state prison system's response to a declining inmate population, officials said Friday.

Prison officials plan to reassign Camp Pharsalia's 105 employees, including 71 guards, to other prisons.

The Department of Correctional Services also plans to close a prison camp in Saratoga County and a work-release program in the Bronx and reduce staff at six other prisons, but there will be enough vacancies at other prisons to accommodate the 556 employees affected by the plan, prison officials said.

The changes should save the state $18 million a year in operating costs, officials said.

The number of inmates in New York prisons has dropped from a high of 71,898 in December 1999 to 65,125 as of Friday, and officials expect the population to continue to drop.

All told, 556 uniformed and civilian staffers and more than 1,400 beds would be affected by the downsizing plan.

Prison spokesman James Flateau said existing vacancies and the normal attrition rate of about 60 employees every two weeks within the Department of Correctional Services should allow the state to offer all the displaced employees another prison job.

Affected workers will be reassigned according to seniority. There are about 20,000 uniformed employees in the state prison system and about 10,000 civilian workers.

Leaders of unions representing prison personnel were briefed Friday on the downsizing plan. The largest union, the New York State Correctional Officers &Police Benevolent Association, said it planned to work with the administration and the Legislature to develop an alternative plan.

The decline in inmates is a result of the sharp drop in the state's crime rate in recent years and prison programs that have allowed nonviolent felons to earn early release, prison officials said.

Rehabilitative programs include completion of academic or vocational training and treatment for drug or alcohol abuse, Flateau said.
More than 56,000 inmates in New York have earned early release since 1995, prison officials said.

Closing Camp Pharsalia, in South Plymouth, is expected to save the state $6 million a year in operating costs. Camp Pharsalia, which opened in 1956, was originally designed to house young inmates assigned to work in state forests.

The Fulton work release facility in the Bronx will be closed within the next two months and the McGregor and Pharsalia minimum-security camps will be shut during the state's next fiscal year, which begins April 1, under a plan announced by state Corrections Commissioner Glenn Goord.

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Sing Sing inmate used girlfriends, including guard, in failed breakouts, prosecutor says

Tuesday February 03, 2004
By JIM FITZGERALD
Associated Press Writer

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) An imprisoned rapper at Sing Sing used his three girlfriends including a guard to help him in three failed escapes from the fortress-like prison, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The alleged mastermind, Nicholas Zimmerman, is serving a 15-year sentence for criminal possession of a weapon and other charges. He was known as Puzz Pachino on his CD titled ``New York's illest.''

"My understanding of Zimmerman is he was a very charismatic guy who was able to get people to do things for him,'' District Attorney Jeanine Pirro said.

In a first attempt April 24, a woman and man dressed as guards flashed fake IDs and carried two handguns and guards' uniforms past security and up to the second floor but the woman suffered a ``panic attack'' and the escape attempt was aborted, Pirro said.

The second try was foiled May 6 when the plotters arrived too late to take advantage of the guards' shift change.

The third attempt May 7 led to the arrests when one man, claiming to be a freshly transferred guard, was stopped at the entrance and fled, leaving behind an ID.

At a news conference, Pirro displayed fake IDs, prison guard uniforms and badges and wigs.

Zimmerman, 27, and the second inmate were both charged with attempted escape. The rapper's girlfriends including guard Quangtrice Wilson, 31 were charged with promoting contraband, along with two other men arrested in the scheme. A third man is a fugitive. Wilson was also charged with bribe receiving for allegedly accepting several thousand dollars to provide information including shift changes and prison layout.

"Mr. Zimmerman has faith in the legal system and would not resort to these methods,'' said Zimmerman's lawyer, Ron Kuby.

Pirro said the schemes illustrate security problems at the famed prison in Ossining. A spokesman for the correction department said security changes have since been made at prisons statewide.

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By Paul Ertelt
Ottaway News Service
[email protected]
  
Albany – The state plans to open a 64-bed mental health unit at a maximum-security prison in Sullivan County.

The behavioral health unit at Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg and a 38-bed unit at a prison in Washington County will house mentally ill inmates who would otherwise be confined to disciplinary cells.

"It's the first alternative to SHU [special housing units] that's ever been offered in our state," acting state Mental Health Commissioner Sharon Carpinello told legislators yesterday.

Of the roughly 4,300 inmates in special housing units, 11 percent are suffering from serious mental illnesses, according to the state Office of Mental Health.

Inmate advocates have long charged that many inmates are confined to special units because of misbehavior that stems from their mental problems, which are exacerbated by confinement in special housing.

Prison officials have countered that SHUs are necessary to isolate disruptive and violent inmates and protect staff and other inmates.

The plan for the new units and other programs is a sign that the Pataki administration has acknowledged the problem of mentally ill inmates and has begun to deal with it, said Harvey Rosenthal, New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services.

"This sort of behavior will provide inmates with more humane care and create a safer prison environment," he said.

The state also plans to spend an additional $13 million on mental health care in state prisons during the fiscal year that begins April 1. Part of that money will be used to hire 66 new nurses and psychiatrists to work in the prison system.

Current cell space would be adapted for the new behavioral units. Behavioral cells would be clustered together, with space nearby for inmates to participate in programs, but they would not be allowed to mingle with the general prison population, said Jill Daniels, a spokeswoman for the Office of Mental Health.

The New York prison system has about 65,000 inmates in 70 prisons.
 

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This organization sent a letter to Governor Pataki on January 27,2004  opposing the closing of Fulton CF in the Bronx. We have asked that the proposed closing of Fulton be withdrawn, and that Fulton be used for other types of  inmates if
there are insufficient work release eligible inmates. Such as parole violators, inmates with open dates for parole, or a combination of work release ,and non- work release inmates as stated above.  Fulton can, and has been used for
other types of inmates in the past.

The Governor's November 26,2003 veto of the " Anti-Privatization bill for NY State Correction (for the 3rd time) sent a very ominous signal that something was up. The reasons cited exclusions of employees of other jurisdictions such as  the
"Cell Block Attendants" employed by the city of Buffalo etc. That is absolutely absurd because this bill was supposed to cover NY State Corrections ! Other Jurisdictions, and agencies should be covered in separate legislation like the bill the Governor signed for NY City Correction about two years ago. Also there are there are a number of work release inmates assigned to work release facilities in New York City that are in residence at privately run facilities! It was the over reaching policy changes by DOCS the caused the drastic reduction in work release eligible inmates.

We also disagree with the DOCS plans to lease or sell space to the US Immigration & Customs Enforcement Service to expand their detention capacity. US Immigration privatizes a large part of it's detention service, and we oppose privatization !

Work release is the best program in corrections because, the inmates become working tax paying citizens. When they are paroled they have a job, and money saved. Inmates who abscond are quickly apprehended by the department's highly
trained professional  escape & absconder unit .

Fulton CF has served the community, and the state for over thirty years, twenty nine as a community correctional facility. The cost of running Fulton CF is money well spent protecting, and serving the community .

The Guardians is working  is working with the unions, and community leaders to fight the closing of Fulton CF.  All Officers ,and civilian employees are urged to contact their state Assembly members, and state Senators seeking their support
for keeping Fulton CF open. Some legislators are already in support .

For further information contact  The Guardians Association NYSC&LE .

Marsha Lee Watson  President  (  347- 495-4714 )

Shirley Phipps  Director Of Public Relations ( 718-  217-9557)

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