Trending Topics

Prison dilemma: Fewer but tougher inmates amid costs constraints

Budget documents show overtime for the first two pay periods this fiscal year, starting in April, was up 4 percent

By Rick Karlin
Times Union

ALBANY — While correctional officers have raised issues about overtime limits after the escape of two inmates from the Clinton Correctional Facility, state officials on Friday said overtime at the maximum security prison was up in April.

Budget documents show overtime for the first two pay periods this fiscal year, starting in April, was up 4 percent.

And state officials note that guard-to-inmate ratios at Clinton have increased over time, with 2.7 inmates for every guard this year compared to 2.85 in 2010.

“The numbers speak for themselves: There are more guards to oversee fewer inmates at Clinton Correctional now than there have been in years,” said Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for Gov.Andrew Cuomo. “This is while New York’s prison population has dramatically declined and 13 other prisons have been closed. Don’t be fooled by those who are distorting these facts to advance a political agenda. “

Others note that state budget officials issued a directive to trim $20 million in overtime costs this year from the entire prison system.

The competing numbers come amid the certainty that lawmakers, correction officers’ unions and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision — the agency that runs state prisons — will take a hard look at the procedures as well as conditions in the 3,000-inmate prison in the aftermath of the escape of Richard Matt and John Sweat.

“Is there adequate staffing at DOCCS?’' asked state Sen. Pat Gallivan, the Republican lawmaker and former Erie County sheriff who chairs the chamber’s Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction.

While stressing that the first order of business is to capture the escapees and secure the prison, Gallivan said staff numbers will likely be one of the topics discussed as people dissect how Matt and Sweat escaped.

The two convicted murderers triggered a massive search that drew national attention after they cut through a thick steel steam pipe and climbed out of a manhole cover.

As armed officers scoured the area around the prison, some wondered if Matt and Sweat’s escape might have been derailed if the prison had gone into a full scale lockdown after a June 1 melee among three dozen inmates in an exercise yard.

Clinton prison officials didn’t get approval for a full lockdown amid concerns about the overtime costs, according to those close to the situation.

They noted that prison superintendents have been under pressure to control overtime costs.

While budget officials have said it’s less expensive to pay overtime than to hire more personnel, given the cost of benefits, DOCCS officials have also said they are trying to keep overtime in check.

During a presentation to lawmakers over the winter, acting DOCCS Commissioner Anthony Antonucci said the agency was developing an “overtime review process,” which included monthly scrutiny in the various facilities.

On the other hand, Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier in the month said DOCCS was hiring guards because, even though the prison population — now about 52,000 — is shrinking, the inmates who remain are tougher than ever.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU