Dozens of corrections officers want lawmakers to pass a new law in the coming weeks to make it a crime to sexually assault an officer, as they say incidents of sexual harassment and assault in prisons are getting worse.
On Tuesday, members of the State Police and Correctional Officers Benevolent Association stood with lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle. in support of the bill make forcible touching of an officer on duty a Class E felony. It is currently a misdemeanor.
“I’ve been to Rikers Island and I’ve seen female correctional officers being harassed — in fact, I’ve witnessed it myself,” said Assemblyman David Weprin, a sponsor of the bill. “I was actually surprised it wasn’t a crime. We’ve outlawed sexual harassment everywhere in the workplace and the correctional system seems to be almost an exception. It’s not on everyone’s radar and it seems sometimes there are no consequences.”
Christina King has worked as a correctional officer at Coxsackie Correctional Facility, a maximum-security men’s prison in Greene County, for 16 years and says sexual harassment and assault of people in the prison has reached an all-time high.
“Because it’s a misdemeanor, there’s nothing they can really do,” he said Tuesday. “Because even if they take their time as a [district attorney] to prosecute, they’re doing felony time and they’re serving felony time, so it’s not a deterrent.”
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision reported 950 incidents of lewd conduct by incarcerated individuals in front of staff last year. The total number includes staff of all genders, not just women, according to the department.
On Tuesday, DOCCS reports 274 cases of lewd conduct by incarcerated individuals in front of staff so far this year, on track for more in 2022.
According to DOCCS, there were 22 charges of forced touching of staff by incarcerated individuals in 2022 and eight charges of forced touching so far this year.
The department placed a person in solitary confinement for a sex offense 96 times last year, including incidents perpetrated by people incarcerated on staff, as well as inmates in jails and visitors to jails. according to HALT’s annual incident report.
“The safety and well-being of staff and incarcerated people is our highest priority,” DOCCS spokesman Thomas Mailey said in a statement on Tuesday. “The department has zero tolerance for sexual harassment or sexual violence in our facilities and anyone who engages in misconduct will be disciplined and, if warranted, incidents will be referred for external prosecution. The department tracks all reported assaults, but, as in the community at large, many cases of sexual harassment or unwanted sexual comments, touching or, worse, go unreported.”
The facility’s medical staff examines an employee if they report that they have been sexually assaulted and transports them to a local hospital for treatment or to collect evidence if necessary.
“A crime scene is established and the New York State Police are notified, as well as the Department’s Office of Special Investigations, and an investigation is opened,” Mailey said. “The disciplinary process follows the protocols indicated therein DOCCS Directive 4932 and, in some cases, people are referred to the district attorney for criminal prosecution.”
The legislation has bipartisan support, with several Democrats siding with the officials.
“The biggest thing is that when a person crosses the line, they have to be held accountable for their actions,” said Rep. Marianne Buttenschon, D-Utica.
Leaders of NYSCOPBA, the state corrections officers’ union, argue that incidents are increasing because the HALT Act has reduced the effectiveness of punishment for sexual assault or violence.
The HALT Act limits the time an incarcerated person in New York can stay in segregated housing to 17 hours a day and no more than 15 consecutive days, or 20 days in a two-month period. It came into effect last April 1, or just over a year ago.
“They don’t mind 15 days in the SHU or [Residential Rehabilitation Units]” King said of the incarcerated people he works with. “They don’t care because they get tablets and their families all day on their cell phone essentially from their cell phone.”
People living in the general prison population can make phone calls of about 20 minutes.
“So it’s worth getting stuck and getting into trouble,” he said.
King recalled seeing more people jailed exposing their genitalia to officers or beaten in front of them.
“There are so many variations and issues of why it doesn’t work,” King said of the HALT Act. “But as a woman, it’s definitely not. I’ve been doing this for 16 years and the sexual harassment and the things that are happening to me now as an officer, I haven’t dealt with them until recently, at all.”
A lawsuit filed against DOCCS last month accuses the department of continuing to misuse solitary confinement and violate the law.
Democratic leaders support increasing penalties for sexually assaulting an officer, but are reluctant to revisit HALT, saying the policy should not be changed if the department has not implemented it.
“It’s not even clear that much has happened that should have happened around HALT in terms of converting spaces and resources that are supposed to be within these institutions,” he said. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on Tuesday. “This is a new administration. We did HALT under the previous administration, and so I think, again, we want to make sure that at least what’s supposed to be there is there.”
Weprin, who chaired the Assembly Corrections Committee when HALT was passed in 2021, said the issue of increased sexual harassment and assault by correctional officers is a separate issue from criticism to HALT. The UN Mandela Rules define prolonged solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days as human torture.
“There’s no reason why, just because someone has been incarcerated and committed a crime, they shouldn’t have contact with the outside world and contact with other incarcerated people,” Weprin said. “I don’t think isolation is necessarily the answer, but I wouldn’t tie it to this legislation at all.”
Weprin, who attended Tuesday’s rally, does not support amending or repealing the HALT Act.
But several Democrats at Tuesday’s rally say they are open to making changes to HALT, including Buttenschon; Deputy Billy Jones, a former Plattsburgh corrections officer; and Rep. Aileen Gunther, D-Forestburgh.
Gunther said tweaking the law should be reviewed with corrections officers and incarcerated people at the table.
“There’s been more sexual harassment, there’s been more violence, and they work here every day,” she said. “So what, do we hear them? I think so.”
