NEWS

Dutchess prisons among the state's highest in overtime use

Amanda J. Purcell
Poughkeepsie Journal

Prisons in Dutchess County spent more than $11 million in overtime in the first five months of the year, with each of the three prisons ranking among the leaders in the state in overtime hours.

Prisons in Dutchess County spent more than $11 million in overtime in the first five months of the year, with each of the three prisons ranking among the leaders in the state in overtime hours.

Through June 11, Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville had $3,931,572 in overtime, according to state-produced data obtained by the Poughkeepsie Journal under the Freedom of Information Law. Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon had $3,728,025 in overtime and Downstate Correctional Facility in the Town of Fishkill had $3,702,960. Between the three facilities, more than 360 employees each made more than $10,000 in overtime in the first 23 weeks of 2015.

New York's prison overtime bill reached $74,579,255 through June 11. The total put the state on pace to spend less than the $180 million in 2014. That trend was before a 23-day manhunt for two escapees from Clinton Correctional Facility cost an additional $59 million in overtime to the prison system and State Police in June and July, according to data obtained by various media outlets through a Freedom of Information request.

In June and July, overtime doubled compared to June and July 2014 to $1.7 million at the Fishkill Correctional Facility. At Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, overtime rose by 175 percent for the same period to $619,346. Downstate Correctional had $1.022 million in overtime, a 15.2 percent increase over June and July 2014. Green Haven Correctional Facility’s $1.6 million for June and July was 29.5 percent more than the previous year. In Ulster County, Wallkill Correctional Facility and Ulster Correctional Facility had nearly double the overtime with $315,348 and $377,094, respectively.

State officials declined to comment on why Dutchess County's facilities specifically have needed more overtime in the first five months of the year than most prisons in the state, but said overtime can be needed for a variety of reasons, from retirements and worker’s compensation to sick leave. The state contends that paying out overtime is more cost effective than hiring new, full-time employees. However, excessive overtime can add to stress among officers and exhaustion, a concern union representatives say is taken into account. The concern is shared by local residents.

While the totals encompass all prison employees, from nurses to cooks to receptionists, the majority of overtime earnings through the first half of the year have gone to prison security staff or corrections officers.

"Overtime in most public safety agencies are traditionally the highest of any government organization,” said James Miller, spokesperson for the union representing prison workers also known as New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, Inc. “It’s the cost of keeping the community safe under the challenges all municipalities face nowadays. Staffing is always an ongoing conversation that the union has with the administration.”

But some residents say the trade-off is not worth the risk to officers’ and prison safety.

“They need to do something or people are going to end up sick and/or hurt. It’s totally ridiculous," Milissa Mahoney of Stanfordville said.

Dutchess among leaders in overtime

Overtime at state prisons has soared in recent years — rising 21 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to records obtained from the state Comptroller's Office by Gannett’s Albany Bureau.

The three Dutchess prisons ranked in the top five for most overtime hours used through mid-June. In overtime hours, Downstate (71,455.45 hours), Fishkill (77,619.79 hours) and Green Haven (82,255.41 hours) were surpassed only by Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester (92,384.91 hours) and Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester (110,178.33 hours). The Dutchess facilities were likewise in the top 11 for overtime hours used in 2013 and 2014.

Across the state, 16 employees made more than $40,000 in overtime, with one topping $60,000. In one case, a correctional officer working at Fishkill whose annual salary is $72,644 made an additional $44,787 in overtime as of June 11. Two officers, one at Green Haven and the other at Downstate, with salaries of $72,644, earned an additional $37,759 and $37,439, respectively.

Of the 928 employees at Green Haven, 123 accumulated more than $10,000 in overtime. Of the 1,135 employees at Fishkill Correctional, 115 officers accumulated more than $10,000 in overtime. At Downstate, 123 of 757 employees made more than $10,000 in overtime.

Across the Hudson River, the prisons in Ulster County had smaller overtime expenses. At the Wallkill Correctional Facility in the Town of Shawangunk, a medium-security prison, overtime through June 11 was $227,370. Ten of the 275 employees made over $10,000 in overtime there. At the Shawangunk Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison, 15 of the 386 employees made over $10,000 in overtime and total overtime was $591,584. Ulster Correctional Facility had 19 of 424 employees with more than $10,000 in overtime and total costs of was $618,985.

Miller said corrections officers frequently work mandatory overtime, meaning an eight-hour shift is extended to 16 hours without prior notice. Corrections officers are guaranteed time-and-a-half in overtime, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which manages the state’s 54 prisons.

Prison employee overtime is part of the state operations budget that last year totaled $2.647 billion. That number is expected to increase by about $49 million to $2.696 billion as part of the 2015-16 budget, according to Division of Budget spokesperson Morris Peters. Representatives from the state did not respond to questions regarding the amount of the budget allocated to prison overtime.

Overtime is driven by multiple factors, including employee retirements, worker’s compensation and sick leave, according to spokesperson Linda Foglia of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Overtime is permitted, Miller said, “as long as each officer’s health, safety and well-being are not jeopardized."

“The safety of the officers inside the facilities is the No. 1 priority of the union,” Miller said. “Like any law enforcement job stress can have an impact on the employees. You always need to take that into consideration when you look at the well-being of the officers and make sure that the position that they work does not have an adverse effect on their health."

Job takes toll on officers

Addrain Conyers, a criminologist and assistant professor at Marist College, said the stress associated with the job can take a toll in a corrections officer’s home life and effect how they interact with inmates and other officers.

“Unlike police officers, you don’t have slow days,” he said. “You literally always have to watch your back all of the time. If you work 12 hours, go home and sleep for 6 or 8 hours, and then go back and you see the same inmates fighting, it does play a role in terms of wearing down officers.”

Job stress is the main reason why, Conyers said, the life expectancy of a correctional officer is 59 years, compared to 75 years for the national average.

At Fishkill, a medium-security prison, the ratio of paid guards to inmates is 1-to-2, or 804 prison guards to 1,653 prisoners. At Downstate, a maximum-security facility, the ratio is also roughly 1-to-2 or 1,136 inmates to 537 security personnel. Green Haven, a maximum security facility, has a ratio of 1-to-3, or 650 prison guards to 1,974 prisoners.

According to the state, the ratio from inmates to guards was 1-to-3 across the state in 2010 and 2015. However, both the number of inmates and uniformed officers have decreased between those years. The number of inmates totaled 57,552 in 2010 and dropped by 4,886 in 2015. The number of corrections officers was 20,552 in 2010 and dropped by 1,474 in 2015.

In response to whether the amount of overtime compromises officers’ and prisoner safety, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision released the following statement via email: "Overtime is used carefully and only when needed. The alternative would be a larger, more expensive, state bureaucracy that New York taxpayers can no longer afford."

Conyers said one reason that the state may not want to hire more officers is “unpredictability.

“You don’t know how many inmates you are going to have to have,” Conyers said. “If you hire too many officers, you may have to lay them off.”

Too much overtime might be part of the problem in prisons, said Shawna Keenan-Cousin of Millbrook.

“Maybe if the state hired more and the current got less overtime, you would not have tired, stressed out and other issues that plague overworked (corrections officers). There wouldn't be a problem of escapes, riots, assaults and contraband getting through," said  Keenan-Cousin.

Overall, the state's prison system had a 29 percent increase in assaults on officers by inmates between 2010 and 2014.

At Clinton Correctional Facility, where convicted killers David Sweat and Richard Matt escaped on June 6, the rate of incidents at the facility in Dannemora per 1,000 inmates was up 45 percent between 2012 and 2013, the most recent data available showed.

Matt was shot and killed on June 27, and the manhunt ended two days later when Sweat was shot, captured and ultimately returned to Clinton.

The prison has the most inmates of any of the state's facilities at about 2,800. State records reviewed by Gannett's Albany Bureau showed that while the number of prisoners at the maximum-security facility has steadily dropped, the number of "unusual incidents" there increased 22 percent, from 389 in 2009 to 476 in 2013, according to the most recent statistics available.

Amanda Purcell: apurcell@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4807; Facebook.com/pojopurcell; Twitter: @amandajpurcell

Prison overtime Jan. 1-June 11

$3,931,572: Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville

$3,728,025: Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon

$3,702,960: Downstate Correctional Facility in the Town of Fishkill

$227,370: Wallkill Correctional Facility in the Town of Shawangunk

$591,584: Shawangunk Correctional Facility

$618,985: Ulster Correctional Facility

$11 million: Overtime at state prisons in the first five months of the year