ATTICA, N.Y. — Attica Correctional Facility is in lockdown following several incidents of violence.
That's according to a social post on the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's Facebook page.
According to the post, Acting Commissioner Daniel F. Matuscello III ordered the correctional facility to be locked down to conduct a search following several incidents between inmates.
They say staff has been assaulted, including a correction officer who was stabbed multiple times and another officer suffering serious injuries to his face.
NYSDOCCS says they are working with State Police and local law enforcement, and will prosecute individuals. The search is anticipated to last several days.
"As soon as you turn your head there' an inmate ready to punch or charge at you," said Kenny Gold, regional Vice president of NYSCOPBA, the union representing corrections officers throughout the state.
"This is not a conducive environment, let alone before you include HALT and what the negative ramifications are," he said.
Gold is referring to the HALT Act, passed by state legislators and which limits disciplinary measures such as solitary confinement.,
The union has said that the measure has made the job of corrections officer even more dangerous than it was.
"HALT has been atrocious," Gold said. "Since April of 2022 you can directly correlate the rise of violence not just on staff, but inmate on inmate violence. Dugs are higher as well as contraband and weapons are higher because when you have no penalty they don't care. You've got some of them in these maximum facilities who are doing life...when you don't have jail inside of jail, so to speak, there is absolutely no care in the world for an inmate to do something to an officer or another inmate."
Gold likened HALT to other criminal justice reforms which have been panned by police and prosecutors who believe reduced consequences have led to more crime.
He says the same can be said inside the prisons, perhaps to a larger degree.
"Behind walls, everybody thinks nothing happens. But there's some really bad people behind the walls that have no fear of consequences. It's a horrible chain reaction of events right now... the men and women who work in these prisons feel like someone is going get killed, and if they do it's not going to matter to the people who enacted HALT," Gold said.
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