Dear Governor Hochul,
This is my husband Joe. He has served as a New York State Corrections Officer for almost a decade.
Joe is a guy you want with you when things go wrong in life and in jail. He's quick to support his fellow officers, friends and always tries to remain positive and cheerful despite what he may be going through personally.
Joe has responded to multiple calls when inmates have attempted to hang themselves. He worked several years in the package room, willingly exposing himself to chemicals that came into the jail inside those packages on more than one occasion.
He was assaulted by an inmate and required surgery that came with an almost year-long recovery and a great deal of physical therapy and permanent injuries.
As a normal every day part of his job, he is sifting through another human's feces to check for contraband. This happens more often than you'd think because you've allowed visitors to opt out of passing through security checks.
This has also led to excessive drug use among inmates and my husband has responded to many drug overdose situations and assisted in saving the lives of your inmates. He currently works in a medium security jail where he is the ONLY officer in a room of 50 incarcerated individuals through the night.
These inmates are not in cells or locked away from having direct physical contact with my husband if they wanted to. His only protection is a retractable baton, OC spray and a radio. He's worked festivals and religious celebrations for inmates that were understaffed to be able to provide for the wants of the inmates.
Their needs and wants have become more important than safety in your eyes. Joe has always worked to treat inmates fairly despite the fact that they have all earned their place in jail.
We signed up for a job where we knew Joe would often be working on our sons' birthdays and most holidays.
We expected occasional mandates and working doubles. We did not sign up for a job where his employer would put him in harm's way and strip him of his physical and mental health.
We did not sign up for a career that would keep him at work for multiple shifts back to back only allowing him to come home and sleep for three hours (not having time or even the energy to eat a hot meal and tuck his kids in) and then go back and get mandated again, resulting in maybe nine hours of sleep in four days.
He's responded to countless assaults on staff and so many things that are simply too graphic and terrible to include.
You already know these things Governor because all incidents like this are documented and all NYS Corrections Officers wear body cameras.
In addition to his job as a CO, Joe is also a father of two young boys. He's a son, a brother, a friend and a husband. He helps coach his sons' sports teams.
He's a homeowner and a taxpayer. Joe is the first person to help a friend or family member. He is the Dad that plays sports in the backyard with his kids.
He's playing catch with them, making up games and showing his kids what a loving marriage looks like. He’s a real living breathing person with a life outside of work and people that depend on him. Even though he’s just a badge number to you, when he doesn’t come home from work people miss him, and promises and commitments get broken.
Every single prison in NYS is full of Joes, hardworking men and women who hold the line between chaos and order in our society.
Working as a CO is as they say: A dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it. BUT, what someone didn’t have to do is make that job harder, however YOU DID!
Governor, stop trying to control the narrative and tell the truth. The HALT Act failed. It may have looked great on paper, but it didn’t work.
The facts are: inmate to inmate assaults have increased, assaults on staff have increased, drug use, weapons possession and gang activity has increased. Correction Officers are resigning and retiring en masse because they can no longer work in this volatile environment. The COs that remain are dangerously overworked and clinically burnt out.
There are things that can be done quickly to rectify this crisis including the implementation of more effective screening of all mail, packages and people entering the prisons. Give the DOCCS back the ability to separate gang leaders and dangerous inmates from the general population.
Why are you failing to do these things that are critical to the safety of not only the COs, but to the inmates as well?
The decision of the Corrections Officers to strike was not taken lightly, but you’ve given them no other choice. Who could expect a person to continue working under these conditions?
Madame Governor, I implore you to please do what you ordered the Correction Officers to do, your job. I pray that you will do what you swore to do and work for the best interest of the citizens of New York.
Sincerely,
Lauren Rozmus, Wife of NYS Corrections Officer Joseph