Testimonials: Safety since the HALT ACT

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 I had just shy of 18 years on the job prior to being terminated recently. Until the Halt act was implemented I thought the department had a pretty good system in place to curb violence and drugs in our facilities. 

Since HALT was implemented there was an almost immediate and drastic shift in the job itself, the amount of dangerous situations escalated to a daily occurrence. This started my coworkers and myself to no longer promote the job as we could not in good faith tell our friends that it was a safe place to work. 

Prior to HALT an employee resigning was almost unheard of. Since halt its a monthly occurrence. The staffing levels due to this policy has require me to be "mandated" 24 hour plus shifts more times than I care to admit. That's with no contact to my family letting them know i was OK just stuck. 

The recent dorm takeover at Collins had my children crying not knowing or hearing from me. The stress to myself and my children was unbearable. Since HALT i have been assaulted to the point of severe and permanent ligament damage in my left leg and foot.

 But I'm one of the lucky ones, my partner at work had his teeth knocked out and such a terrible concussion from being assaulted that he could not drive for 2 years. Drs. revoked his license as he would throw up whenever in a vehicle. Its important to note that officers tried everything to reach out to Albany for help. We wrote letters, had informational pickets, formal demands to meet with the governor. All went unheard. We had nothing left and we had invested years of our lives to a profession that was once worth the smaller in comparison risks. 

My family life crumbled. I have 3 children at home and am a single parent. Mandated and unexpected 24 hour shifts were an impossible thing to navigate in my situation. It's important to note that over the decade prior to HALT i could count my 'mandated' shifts on one hand. Most of these for multiple feet of snow. Since HALT they've used mandates to solve their failure to staff the facilities correctly. 

Since 2001 I’ve been a civilian phlebotomist in DOCCS. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling around the state and working at many facilities before settling down permanently in 2017 at Ulster Correctional Facility. 

Through out my career I’ve seen how each prison is run very differently in some aspects but the structure and discipline was similar in all. I’ve been to most “special” units SHU, MHU, BHU, CAR, SNU and SHU200. The message in these units were clear, your mistakes and own actions have consequences, therefore, your stay in a unit was needed. 

Very rarely did I hear any complaints from an inmate from being in these units other than the ability to get high was harder. They knew they needed time to reset their thoughts and minds. Recently since HALT has been in place I’ve witnessed the attitude and actions of the incarcerated become disrespectful towards staff and each other that is just a bomb waiting to explode. 

The drugs are plentiful and they know if they are caught there are no consequences for bad behavior. The staff is becoming more and more frustrated on seeing the same I individuals 7-8 times in a single day completely out of control from getting high. Just to be transferred to another dorm after every episode.

 The fighting amongst gang members is uncontrollable. 1 officer to 50 inmates is inconceivable stupidly on the states part HALT is just a hug a thug program created by Albany to keep the families of the incarcerated criminals happy. It does absolutely nothing for their rehabilitation or safety of the incarcerated or staff. 

 I was a CO with 9.5 years on the job. The last 2 years especially have been crazy not knowing how many use of forces your getting in today. 

On the morning of August 4th, 2024 handing out Breakfast in the SHU an I/I said he was having chest pains so I told him I would let the nurse know an have her come up. 

I told the nurse so she went up to the cell and when knocking on the window noticed he was not responding. 2 other officers and myself went up to the cell. I had the Cell Shield and the 2 officers behind me all went in an found him hanging in the rec pen. His face and lips were purple. We cut him down and started CPR. 

Then about 3 minutes into giving CPR, one of the officers started to fall out. I took over and as I was giving CPR, I felt a sensation go from my feet all the way up. I got light headed and was about to puke so I ran out the cell and ran to the bathroom.

 I never had this feeling before and when I was vomiting an officer asked me if I needed to be narcanned I said yes and I don’t really remember anything till I got to the hospital where I found out I got narcanned 3 times. The 2 other officers got narcanned 2 times. 

Never in my life did I think I was going to die while saving an I/I an having to get narcanned. My life hasn’t been the same since; having nightmares all the time, can barely sleep and being diagnosed with PTSD. 

I know we signed up for the job, but we did not sign up to get narcanned and die while doing our job. The ambulance crew said if I didn’t get narcanned, I was going to die. All we want is just to have a safer workplace....That’s all we are asking for. 

 Terminated CO’s wife here! First off I am a daughter of a retired CO (dad) and Corrections nurse (mom). I’ve been raised in this life.

 My husband left for the academy in April of 2013. The first half of his career was fine. He was hooking up swaps, we had 2 children and bought a house. I was finally hired as a teacher after 16 years of trying to get into public school’s. 

It all changed when the Halt Act was introduced. My husband was resource for years. He finally took a bid in the SHU. He’s now 39 and has been injured at work 4 times and has had 2 surgeries. 

The past few years his mental health had deteriorated greatly. He began looking for other jobs in January. We were willing to take a pay cut but wanted to keep his pension. 

He went back to work full duty in January of this year (he had knee surgery in September from his last injury). Our friend was one of the officers narcaned multiple times last summer at Collins. Another friend had his finger bitten off. I’ve been sharing, emailing, and calling for years. No one would listen. 

I was never involved in politics until the Halt Act was signed in. I’ve had family and friends delete and block me due to my political views now. 

Our children are 14 and 9. Our teenage daughter asked me the other night why Hochul is so mean. When the strike happened I fully supported my husband and our friends. I never even thought it would come down to him being terminated. Right before the strike he did 3 doubles in a row and almost got stuck for a 24 the day before. 

He had hurt himself at home and had a drs appt scheduled the week the strike started. He had medical documentation keeping him out til March 18th. But they refused it and terminated him saying he was AWOL even though he had turned in his paperwork. 

I’ve never seen so many grown men cry as much as I did during these three weeks. Watching moms and dads futures flash before their eyes. Having to forgo their safety to keep their family insured. 

Even with his injury last year and being out 7 months he had 300 hours of overtime. We sat down with my parents to discuss everything with them since they had the inside experience. We all agreed that the salary is not worth his life. 

He had friends calling him crying, not knowing what to do. Fearing they would be judged if they chose to go back in. We told every one of them that we would never judge anyone and they need to make the best decision for themselves. Ever since he was terminated I’ve felt a sense of relief knowing he’ll be safe. i Worry about paying the bills but knowing he’s a hard worker and will get a new job.

Both jobs he was going to apply for are state jobs. Now we aren’t sure what to do since Hochul blackballed us. I do carry the health insurance for us but we lost our dental and vision. We had just made a retirement plan with our financial guy. 

Now we turn a new page and never look back at DOCCS. Ultimately our children will remember that their dad fought for what was right! 

 I was a corrections officer at Collins for about 10 years before being terminated,

 I also worked at the Erie County Sheriff's Office in the jail division for 4 and a half years. 

Since the implementation of the Halt Act, I have seen nothing but negative effects. 

I was attacked by two inmates on my dorm area and nothing was done. Those inmates just walked with no punishment. I now have permanent injury to my body that affects me every day and then told by state doctors "we think you will be fine"... 

I also had a job bid in the area where the inmates took over the dorm, I told supervisors for weeks that we need to do something, move inmates anything. I could tell how dangerous it was getting. The only answer I got from anyone was "yeah what are you going to do?". Then while on vacation I got word that D block was overtaken, and my fellow brothers and sisters were stuck inside... 

These are just some prime examples of how the HALT ACT has a negative effect. 

  I started my career in Green haven Correctional Facility in 2005. I than transferred home to Elmira correctional after year and half on the road in 2007.

 I spent the last 17.5 years working at Elmira in a variety of different areas. Spent 7 years 3-11 working rec areas. Spent the next four years working 7-3 working general population housing areas. I did spend 3 years working midnights in the honor block.

During all this time I've seen changes and dealt with I/I on I/I violence, assaults on staff ,medical emergencies and just performed these duties with a sense of pride and understanding. At least in my mind I could see the benefits of our efforts having on the individuals( I/I's)trying to do the right things and follow the rules. In my mind hoping even if one can get right and not come back here it's worth it.

Now to the last 3 years of my career, mind you with about 15 years on the job I landed what was supposed to be a retirement job.

It was in the reception side of Elmira, not that it didn't have its issues and challenges but, it was nothing like the population side of the jail. Most I/I's would come through, do their" work ups " classification, medical, aptitude testing etc. Most I/I's wouldn't be there long enough to qualify for their first commissary buy.

Now it's 2022 and the state is doing another round of prison closures to deal with lack of staffing issues and arrest and convictions being down because of bail reform. The state closes down a major reception center in the state, Downstate correctional facility.

Now Elmira and Ulster are expected to take on the overwhelming numbers of I/I's coming into the state system. With the help of Green Haven for transportation and housing until the transfer to Elmira and Ulster. Just another do more with less. This has become the norm state wide. I think at this point we all just kind of expected it.

At least in Elmira I feel our concerns were taken into consideration for the movement, housing, rec etc. All involved I think did a great job making all these moving pieces look good on paper.

 The underlying issue we had to face, that we have no control over, is the reaction that would be caused by the integration of "Downstate" I/I's and "Upstate" I/I's. Rochester /Buffalo bloods against New York City bloods. Plus the Spanish and Black beef that was going on at the time.

 It literally turned my "retirement job into a war zone" . I dealt with more fights, cutting, suicide attempts, assaults on staff in the short 3 years period than the previous 15.5 years prior. I've worked a max my whole career and the last three years since Halt has been enacted, with the prison closures, have been the most challenging in my career. During this time we did absorb over, I believe it was 100 plus officers from Southport and Willard closures, which we looked at as a relief from out of control mandating and work that's been put on a stressed and overwhelmed staff.

 Their was some relief with the guys and gals that came from there. We had people willing to work and help and just do the job. The problem with the prison closures Elmira and other jails had to absorb was all the programming and the other responsibilities these jails that closed were responsible for. So at the end of the day we are short staffed again and back to mandatory overtime etc.
 The prison closures are really just an example of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" type scenario. It's only going to lead to more staff resigning, retiring and more work and less staff to deal with the challenges that jail closures create.  

 I have a simple story.

 I started my career at NYSDOCS in 2004. I was proud. I became a husband and a father of 2 amazing kids. 

I was a volunteer firefighter and EMT. I was on the CERT team, fire and safety team, and the confined space rescue team at my facilities.

 As my kids got older, I became a coach - mentor in multiple youth sports including football, baseball, softball, wrestling. I was a “cheer” dad and a “dance” dad,, (if you know you know). That’s was my life in a nut shell.

 I had an amazing family, a great job, and honestly what became my hobby (coaching). Since the HALT ACT was implemented, I could no longer coach, mentor, or assist in any of my kids activities. I couldn’t even make it to birthday parties, banquets, or even my own wedding anniversaries.

 I put DOCS ahead of my life. Because of DOCS, I became an absentee parent and an absentee husband. When I was around, I was just a zombie. 

Working 16 + hours a day 6 days a week. Because of DOCS and HALT, I am now divorced and unemployed. Unemployed for the first time since I was 12— I’m almost 49, all because I wanted a safe work environment for the incarcerated humans, civilian staff and correctional staff. 

I lost the women I still love because I wasn’t here for her,, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I have lost so much because of the Halt Act, and I will not rest until ALL HUMANS can be safe behind the fence. My New Hobby 

 I 've been a NYS correction officer for almost 9yrs. The first 5yrs or so were great.

 Since the HALT act was implemented, the cases of intoxicated inmates and assaults on staff and inmates alike has skyrocketed. 

The HALT act has caused inmates to run wild, knowing there are very few consequences for violent, heinous behavior.

 I willingly signed up for this job, but did not sign up to be exposed to dangerous drugs that come into Wyoming correctional facility every Saturday and Sunday during visits or through mail that is given directly to inmates.

 How can we have body scanners that are optional? If i go to the airport, I'm not given the option, either I do or I don't get on my flight.

 The state of New York and the administration at Wyoming correctional are obviously more concerned about the inmate population than the safety of officers, nurses and civilians that run the prison.