BUFFALO, N.Y. — UPDATE: On Wednesday Morning the state department of corrections issued a memo which indicates that corrections officers will be allowed to wear masks in the course of their duty. According to a union representing the officers, details are being worked out as to the circumstances of when they will be allowed to wear them, where the masks might be acquired, and if officers will be allowed to obtain them on their own and bring them in. The union calls this a major development in efforts to protect both staff and inmates inside New York's prisons.
According the union that represents them, there are close to 200 NYS corrections officers in Western New York prisons, now off the job while under quarantine for possible exposure to COVID-19.
Most of them are concentrated at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, which is outside of Buffalo.
"Obviously Wende is the epicenter of getting this under control for our region," said Mark Deburgomaster, western region vice president of NYSCOPBA, the union representing corrections officers. "They are barely making it by with the staff that they have."
According to Deburgomaster there are now 135 Wende C.O's. off the job and under quarantine, including six who've actually tested positive for the virus.
He told WGRZ-TV that number is more than triple what it was just a little over a week ago.
The news comes at a time when the union is asking the state to take additional measures to protect its members here and across New York.
"They've shut down as much as they can," said Deburgomaster, who noted that by curtailing programs and eliminating all but essential transports and other steps, it has freed up some officers to do the work of those sent home.
"But you still have to do the basic operations at every facility, " he said.
He also believes efforts by the state to address the situation have lagged.
"I think they've been behind in addressing this pandemic from the beginning and we have yet to see them catch up," said Deburgomaster. "They're still making license plates at Auburn, even though we've repeatedly asked to close that down...I have sergeants that are screening every employee that walks in with now without masks or protective equipment."
According to Deburgomaster some officers have asked to bring in their own N-95 masks, only to be rebuffed by the state's corrections department.
"They are holding fast to you only get an n-95 when it's medically necessary."
Sources tell us that after an inmate who worked as a porter serving meals in the B-Block at Wende tested positive for COVID-19, the entire cell block is now on quarantine ...and that meals are now being served instead by corrections officers donned in masks and protective gowns.