{"id":149111,"date":"2025-08-16T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T00:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149111\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T00:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T00:00:14","slug":"ny-focus-reporter-on-the-systemic-changes-needed-at-doccs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149111\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Focus reporter on the systemic changes needed at DOCCS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, Capital Tonight spoke with the commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCs).<\/a><\/p>\n

Commissioner Daniel Martuscello has been in the hot seat this year for a variety of reasons, including the killing of two inmates caught on body cameras allegedly at the hands of correction officers employed by the state. He\u2019s now attempting to restore confidence in DOCCs after correctional offices embarked on an illegal strike this winter, and staff morale plummeted.<\/p>\n

After suspending academic programs during the wildcat strike, the commissioner told Capital Tonight that DOCCs would be starting up those programs again in September. He also said the department\u2019s staff recruitment drive is in full swing.<\/p>\n

But Chris Gelardi, an award-winning investigative reporter for New York Focus, a nonprofit investigative newsroom covering New York state government and politics, told Capital Tonight that the correctional system in New York state still needs deep reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the incarcerated peoples\u2019 perspective, there is an issue of rampant abuse within DOCCs. I hear complaints that correction officers are allowed to abuse incarcerated people with impunity,\u201d Gelardi said. \u201cFrom the correction officers\u2019 perspective\u2026there was a staffing crisis before the strike that took place in February and that has only been exacerbated since the strike since DOCCs fired around 2,000 of those officers and we have COs working 12-hour shifts. A lot of staffing needs are going unmet.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In response to these comments, DOCCs emailed the following statement to Capital Tonight:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commissioner is focused on operating a prison system that is based on a culture of dignity and respect, while holding individuals accountable.\u00a0 While staff discipline is ultimately decided by an independent arbitrator, when anyone engages in misconduct that is criminal in nature, referrals are made to the appropriate prosecutorial agency as was evidenced by DOCCS identifying and turning over the horrific video that captured the murder of Mr. Robert Brooks and will be a critical piece of evidence to ensuring those involved are prosecuted.\u00a0 We have now fully deployed BWC in all prisons and have codified DOCCS BWC Policy in statute.\u00a0 We continue to engage in an overall review and transformation focused on rehabilitation and safety, however, we should also acknowledge the significant work of the staff and the incarcerated population who are doing the work as reflective in our historically low 18.9% recidivism rate. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the staffing crisis, NY is not alone in the corrections staffing crisis. This is a national issue that has not received the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cNYS has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign with a number of incentives to attract the next generation of correctional professionals.\u00a0 While we have much work ahead, we have already seen a 137% increase in candidates taking the exam as compared to last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another challenge for DOCCs is the plummeting prison population.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drop in the prison population has been so fast that that state hasn\u2019t been able to keep up,\u201d Gelardi told Capital Tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The recently passed budget permits Gov. Kathy Hochul to close up to three DOCCS prisons by April 2026. Both the governor and Commissioner Martuscello say no staff positions will be cut.<\/p>\n

DOCCs responded with the following statement regarding the state\u2019s prison population:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNYS has seen a 54% decrease in the incarcerated population from our high in 1999.\u00a0 During this same time, we have closed\u00a026\u00a0prisons in order to safeguard taxpayer dollars and preserve our valuable staffing resources.\u00a0 This year the enacted budget provided authority to close up to three additional prisons. \u00a0That said, over the past two years, we have seen an increase in the overall population which is now 32,120. We must make decisions both on short term realities but also in line with our long term vision for NYS prisons, rehabilitation and safety goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, Capital Tonight spoke with the commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCs).…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[40737,5229,29875,13565,17547,12170,29874,29873,25146,405,403,17050,50,5226,5225,5228,17545,5227,80,5292,29872,52,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-149111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany-capital-region","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-app-capital-tonight","11":"tag-app-local-state-politics","12":"tag-app-ny-state-of-politics","13":"tag-app-public-safety","14":"tag-capital-tonight","15":"tag-capital-tonight-interviews","16":"tag-criminal-justice","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-new-york-state","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkcity","23":"tag-ny","24":"tag-ny-state-of-politics","25":"tag-nyc","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-public-safety","28":"tag-susan-arbetter","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-united-states","31":"tag-united-states-of-america","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-usa","36":"tag-vod"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115035506345657139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}