NCJ Number
82140
Date Published
1977
Length
56 pages
Annotation
The staffing and assignments of security personnel at State correctional facilities in New York were studied to assess State Department of Correctional Services programs with respect to the use of correctional officers, training, and the use of leave.
Abstract
Site visits to 6 of the State's 23 correctional facilities were made and the staffing of all facilities was reviewed. The six facilities which were visited accounted for over half of the costs and staff for security personnel in fiscal year 1974-75 and almost half of the State's inmate population. The State's inmate population was found to have increased by 24 percent between 1973 and 1975, while the number of staff positions increased by only about 10 percent. Several changes in the use of security personnel and in related practices would significantly reduce security costs and would maximize the skills use of available personnel. Officers should be freed from clerical activities and placed in more critical assignments. Fifty-five positions could be eliminated from work gangs and posts which could be staffed by existing maintenance or program personnel. Correctional officers' positions should also be reclassified to correspond with the degree of difficulty and responsibility of their assignments. Bulletin boards and interactions with supervisors could accomplish the same results as the preshift briefings. About $1.5 million in yearly overtime pay could be saved by adding 177 relief positions to cover posts of officers on leave and miscellaneous security duties. Improved training for correctional officers and greater use of State facilities for housing trainees at the Albany training academy are also recommended. Officials of the Department of Corrections reviewed the draft of this report, generally agreed with the recommendations, and have implemented many of them. Tables are provided.