BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After the winter wildcat strikes, with corrections officers calling for better conditions inside state prisons, the 7 News I-Team is learning about the impact strikes had on staffing levels.
Through an official Freedom of Information Law request, the 7 News I-Team has learned more than 500 prison staffers, statewide, resigned between February and April of this year.
Many of those resignations came during or after that weeks-long strike.
WATCH: Update on Corrections Officer Strike
The 7 News I-Team went through all of the numbers, prison by prison.
Here's how the data shakes out:
- 535 total resignations between February and April
- Mohawk Correctional Facility had the most resignations at 39
- More than 90 resignations came from Western New York
- Wyoming Correctional Facility had 27 resignations
- Lakeview Correctional Facility had five resignations
- Collins Correctional Facility had seven resignations
Western New York accounted for 17% of all resignations in that time frame.
State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III told lawmakers, last week, the total number of terminations and resignations
is in the thousands.
"The department continues to recover from a three week illegal job action that has impacted our ability to operate our facilities and have put us at unsustainably low staffing levels," Martuscello said.
The New York State Department of Corrections is also using a third-party recruiter to hire more corrections officers. The department says that effort will start later this month.
Tuesday morning, NYSCOPBA, the union representing corrections officers released a statement to the 7 News I-Team,
“Unfortunately, a large contingent of officers resigned from DOCCS between February and April statewide. The choice to resign were made by the individual officers, but in many instances, work life balance, prison violence, staffing levels, and mandatory overtime were a common theme among those who resigned. That is the unfortunate reality staff have faced for years and concerns NYSCOPBA has voiced to DOCCS consistently during that time period”
