ALBANY, New York (WWNY) – The head of the state prison system warns that attacks in prisons “will not be tolerated.”
It came after “some people detained in the department recently made the decision to commit extremely serious assaults against employees without warning or provocation,” wrote Anthony Annucci in a memo released on Wednesday.
“Although there have been occasional very worrying incidents, the trend I’ve been seeing lately in terms of the sheer ferocity of the attack, the randomness of the attack, and the lack of a triggering event prior to the attack is extremely worrying.” Annucci wrote in the memo.
A spokeswoman for the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision confirmed the authenticity of the memo.
Annucci’s memo comes after an inmate in a central New York prison assaulted a female law enforcement officer; two correctional officers were injured by an inmate who bit one of them and cut a nail in the other; nine officers were injured in four separate incidents at a Utica area prison.
Annucci warns that attacks on anyone in prison will result in “the guilty being fully brought to justice”.
“Money doesn’t matter when it comes to employee safety.
“More importantly, any conviction for violent bodily harm leads to an additional prison sentence, which must be imposed on top of the existing prison sentence.
“In addition, a re-conviction for a serious crime could even lead to a conviction of a persistent criminal or persistent violent criminal. In both scenarios, a maximum lifetime would be imposed, ”wrote Annucci.
Republican Senate Chairman Rob Ortt called the memo “deeply worrying.”
“Across New York state, we have seen a worrying increase in violence not only in our correctional facilities but also in our local communities,” Ortt said in a statement.
“In the meantime, New York Democrats continue to advocate criminal policies that put innocent people at risk. There is no excuse that guards, civilians and inmates are at risk, ”said Ortt.
He said Republicans supported a proposal by the state law enforcement officials for an investigation into the violence and a plan to end it.
The union leader who represents the correctional officers told 7 News, “It is time they finally realized this. It’s been a trend for 10 years. “
“It took some pretty malicious attacks to get attention,” said Mike Powers.
Powers said his union is pushing for an answer to an important question; Why does violence increase when the number of inmates decreases?
“We hope for a stronger discipline,” he said.
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