NYSCOPBA Launches Ads Opposing Closures

ALBANY - The leadership of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) announced Wednesday that they are launching an aggressive advertising campaign in opposition to the executive budget proposal to close four prisons, including Ogdensburg Correctional Facility.

At a press conference in Albany, NYSCOPBA President Donn Rowe was joined by Executive Vice President Chris Hickey, Northern Region Vice President Randy Page, Western Region Vice President Al Mothershed, and more than 30 active correctional officers to make the announcement. The group said that NYSCOPBA's comprehensive media campaign would include television ads, radio ads and direct mail to voters across the state.

"Tough times call for tough choices but choosing to close prisons at the risk of public safety and jobs is a choice New York can not afford," said Mr. Rowe. "This campaign will inform New Yorkers of the devastating proposal their legislators are considering and urge them to make their voices heard before it is too late. Our goal is to protect public safety and to save jobs and we will not stop fighting until we do."

Mr. Hickey said, "Our prisons are already overcrowded and understaffed and yet the Department of Correctional Services refuses to cut from their own bloated administrative bureaucracy. Instead they have decided to balance the budget on the backs of those who serve as our front line of protection for both inmates and the general public."

The advertising campaign notes that the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) is choosing to close prisons instead of cutting agency bureaucrats and calls it "a dangerous choice" in the advertisements.

The televisions ads began running Wednesday and the radio ads are slated to begin running tomorrow.

The DOCS Executive Budget proposal calls for the closure of the medium security Ogdensburg Correctional Facility; the minimum security Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility; the minimum security Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility; and the minimum security component of the Butler Correctional Facility.

The announcement comes on the heels of Mr. Rowe's harsh comments against the proposal when he testified before members of the Legislature earlier this week.

In his testimony, Mr. Rowe pointed to the fact that NYSCOPBA leadership has repeatedly raised concerns with DOCS about overcrowding and problems with safety for inmates and officers posed by inmates living in double bunked cells designed to hold one inmate.

Currently, New York's prison system as a whole is operating at 102% capacity, with maximum security facilities operating at more than 122% capacity.

NYSCOPBA represents more than 23,000 New York State Employees in the Security Services sector.