Annual medals ceremony

Commissioner presents medals of honor and merit

Commissioner Goord presented the Department's awards for valor to seven employees during an annual ceremony held October15 at the DOCS' Training Academy in Albany. Most of the actions leading to the awards occurred during a riot last year at Mohawk.

The Department's highest award, the Medal of Honor, is presented to "an employee whose actions, in the line of duty, evidence an extraordinary degree of courage, bravery or heroism." The 1998 Medal of Honor recipients are Mohawk Correction Officer Douglas A. Christman, Clinton Correction Officer Larry L. Collins and Mohawk Correction Sergeant Ernest E. Stevens Jr.

The Medal of Merit is presented to "an employee for extraordinary performance in the line of duty or for an exceptional contribution to the Department." The 1998 Medal of Merit recipients are Mohawk Correction Officers Bradley E. Bliss, Joseph F. Griffith and Stephen T. Kline, and the Rev. Carl Stiglich, a Protestant chaplain at Ulster Correctional Facility.

Commissioner Goord said, "These brave correction employees have earned the gratitude and admiration of all New Yorkers. We honor them today as examples of the professionalism, dedication and bravery of our 32,000 correction employees. They can truly be called heroes."

Governor Pataki last year became the first Governor to ever attend the 15-year-old awards ceremony. Because his schedule did not allow him to attend today's ceremony, Governor Pataki sent the honorees a letter, stating that "It is a pleasure to join with your colleagues, families and friends in commending you for your notable actions" that have earned them the awards.

The Governor continued, "I am equally proud of our Administration’s initiatives that have advanced your efforts, including the largest maximum-security expansion program in 70 years, enactment of the death penalty, criminalizing the disgusting acts of ‘inmate throwers,’ increasing security staffing and fill levels and eliminating parole for violent offenders as well as barring these individuals from participating in work release."

Governor Pataki noted in his letter that “Several of today's honorees are being recognized for their selflessness and heroism during the July 18-19, 1997, riot at the Mohawk Correctional Facility. The Inmate Prosecution Task Force that our Administration created in 1995 was instrumental in bringing additional charges against inmates who were participants in that unnecessary and senseless display of violence.,”

At the time of the incident, the prison system had 69,697 inmates but only 20,281 cells. All other inmates were housed in barracks or dormitory-style units. Since then, under the Governor's prison expansion plans, nine 100-cell double-occupancy maximum-security units have been added at existing medium-security prisons. A 750-cell, double-occupancy maximum-security prison is under construction in Malone and opens in July 1999. A second such prison is in the planning stages. That will add 4,800 beds in cells by 2001, a 24 percent increase.

“These additional cells,” Commissioner Goord explained, “give us the space to house inmates who attack staff and break other prison rules. It also allows us to transfer to these new cells inmates who are now locked up in general confinement cells in maximum-security prisons. That frees up 'max beds' so we can increase our intake from the counties, who are holding record numbers of felons awaiting transfer to state custody. Thus, the counties are receiving relief by the state opening new cells.” The Commissioner noted the five-year average number of felons backed up in county jails is 1,450, but there are 2,400 today.

Commissioner Goord said, "The Governor's commitment to increased cell capacity is especially important in light of his Sentencing Reform Act of 1995 and 1998's Jenna's Law, which together mandate that all violent offenders get longer maximum sentences and then serve at least 6/7ths of them-- rather than the old law, which allowed their release after only as little as one-third of their maximum sentences. They will be staying longer. We need more cells to house them and to reduce current pressure on the system."

To help secure the work place even further, Governor Pataki created the Criminal Prosecution Task Force in April 1995 to commit state resources to assisting counties in bringing charges against inmates who commit crimes while in prison. Among the task force's cases was to assist the Oneida County District Attorney's office in gaining convictions against 11 inmate leaders involved in last year's riot at Mohawk.

In 1996, Governor Pataki provided employees with further protection when he signed into law a bill that made it a felony for inmates to throw human waste and fluids at prison employees. In the five-year period prior to enactment of this statute, there was an average of 134 such incidents each year. There have been 54 incidents through the first nine months of this year. Arnong the first 17 inmates convicted under the new law, the average additional sentence handed down was three years. One other inmate received an additional 15 years to life when he was sentenced as a persistent felon. There are 161 additional cases pending.

"Governor Pataki's criminal justice initiatives have contributed to a 23 percent decrease in crime on our streets over the past three years," Commissioner Goord noted. "That makes all New Yorkers safer. At the same time, Governor Pataki remains committed to the safety and security of our employees charged with the custody of the offenders that his initiatives take off of our streets. His construction program and program initiatives are testimony to his commitment to all our employees, whom he also honors by proclaiming this as Correctional Services Employee Week." (October 11-17, 1998) Commissioner Goord said, "Each day of the year, correctional employees go inside of prisons to perform the most difficult tasks that the state asks of any of its employees. And every day, they are equal to that challenge. It is only appropriate that we take time each year to recognize and encourage the commitment, esprit de corps and selflessness of our work force."

Since the Department's awards program was instituted in 1984 and including the October 15 ceremony, a total of 100 awards have been presented. The Medal of Honor has been presented to 32 em¬ ployees, including 25 Correction Officers, three Sergeants and four civilian employees. The Medal of Merit has now been presented to 68 employees, including 48 Correction Officers, four Sergeants, three Lieutenants and 13 civilians.