AP photo Striking corrections officers across New York state wanted safer conditions when they struck last year. If the last two months are any indication, things are not getting better.

Detailing a surge in violence, staff assaults, overdoses, exposures and deaths inside state prisons, New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association President Chris Summers declared the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to be in a “full-scale systemic emergency.” He issued that warning on April 20 to state Gov. Kathy Hochul.

More than one month later, the uprisings have not slowed. In some locations, such as the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, lawlessness is mounting. At that location on April 26, three fires were set by inmates within an hour of each other at the medium security correctional facility, resulting in eight officers and three National Guardsmen being treated for suspected smoke inhalation.

“Our correctional facilities are no longer operating under normal conditions,” Summers wrote. “They are under extreme pressure and becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous for everyone inside the walls. Our members are being assaulted. Staff are being exposed to unknown and potentially lethal substances. Contraband is flooding the system and driving disorder, medical emergencies, violence, and death. This is a crisis that demands the governor’s direct and personal intervention.”

Summers’ plea appears to have gone unanswered. But from April 24 to May 18, wounds to staff members — according to press releases on the NYSCOPBA website — continued to climb. During that time period at least 27 were injured while on the job — including eight at the Collins Correctional Facility in separate incidents that took place May 2 and 5.

Physical harm and aggression on the staff has been in the spotlight since February 2025 when 12,000 corrections officers and sergeants took part in the wildcat strike that lasted for 22 days. It violated that state’s public employee no-strike law, but what other options did workers have?

In Summers’ letter to Hochul, he called for the governor to engage with the State Legislature to advocate for the adoption of the statewide HALT Committee’s balanced recommendations to amend the landmark Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act law that limits isolation for inmates. Those recommendations include expanding serious offenses eligible for segregated confinement, allowing temporary special housing unit or residential rehabilitation placement for protective custody when safety risks are unreasonable and permitting up to 15 days of special housing unit for repeated misconduct after alternative interventions have failed.

Last week, the situation continued to simmer after the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision released a two-minute video of the brutal February attack that came without warning on a counselor and other officers at the Lakeview Shock Incarceration Facility in Brocton.

Inmate J’Kendric Agee was indicted on charges including two counts of second-degree assault following an investigation and referral by DOCCS by Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt. In response to the incident — and video — state Sen. George Borrello said the incident makes clear the “danger prison staff face” on a daily basis.

“Even after last year’s strike and the formation of the HALT Act Committee, the governor and legislative Democrats have refused to act on recommendations designed to restore order and improve safety inside our prisons,” Borrello said. “Instead, staff are expected to manage increasingly violent offenders with fewer tools, fewer consequences and less support.”

Those comments get to the heart of Summers’ letter that calls for stronger penalties under the state’s contraband laws for smuggling drugs, weapons and toxic materials into the facilities. In addition, he notes, there were two separate inmate-on-inmate deaths at the Riverview facility in Ogdensburg and the site in Gouverneur. Both are under state police investigation. For the first three months of 2026, state DOCCS data noted 44 incarcerated deaths, including six suicides.

“The safety of the men and women who work in our state prisons — and the stability of the entire correctional system — now rests on Governor Hochul’s leadership,” Summers

wrote. “We implore her to use the full weight of her office to ensure these critical reforms are passed swiftly. NYSCOPBA stands ready to meet with the governor or her staff at the earliest opportunity to provide any additional information or support required. The time for action is now.”

Even with the clock ticking — and more documented physical attacks taking place — Albany’s lack of urgency in this issue is not only offensive. It is also putting those who work with dedication to keep the peace consistently in harm’s way.

John D’Agostino is editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.