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Officers assaulted, injured at Sullivan Correctional Facility, more

By JAMES MILLER
Posted 4/25/23

Six officers from Sullivan Correctional Facility were treated at a local hospital for injuries that occurred when two inmates attacked them in separate incidents. 

The assault occurred …

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Officers assaulted, injured at Sullivan Correctional Facility, more

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Six officers from Sullivan Correctional Facility were treated at a local hospital for injuries that occurred when two inmates attacked them in separate incidents. 

The assault occurred following other attacks at Green Haven and Fishkill early in April that left additional staff injured. An attack also took place in Otisville Correctional Facility on April 12. 

On April 17, six Sullivan Correctional Facility officers needed to be treated at Garnet Health Medical Center for assorted injuries after an inmate faked being unresponsive in his cell, then charged and attacked officers who entered the cell to check on his well-being. 

Initially, an officer conducting security rounds noticed a mattress had been propped up against a cell door. The inmate in the cell was sitting up against the mattress and did not respond to the officer. 

A response was called for and additional staff arrived at the cell. The inmate continued to be unresponsive to staff. A sergeant on the scene had staff open the cell door so they could enter to check on the welfare of the inmate. 

When the cell door was opened, the inmate jumped to his feet and charged at staff. An officer armed with a plastic shield pushed the inmate backward. Several officers grabbed the inmate in a body hold and forced him back into the cell and onto the cell floor. 

While on the floor, the inmate was able to wrap his arm around an officer’s neck and began to choke him. Another officer entered the cell and was able to pry the inmate’s arm from around the officer’s neck. 

While still combative and kicking at staff on the floor, the inmate was placed in handcuffs. Leg restraints were applied next. Once in full restraints, the inmate became compliant. The inmate was removed from the cell and brought to the infirmary to be evaluated. 

He was later transferred to Wende Correctional Facility. 

Six officers were injured in the incident. Initially, they were treated by facility medical staff, and were then transferred to the medical center and treated for the following injuries: shoulder, lower back, arm, knee and elbow pain and swelling, a lip laceration and lack of range of motion in the shoulder. 

The inmate, 26, is serving a five-year sentence after being convicted in Onondaga County, NY in 2021 for burglary and robbery in the second degree.  

In 10 short days, we have had attacks at four correctional facilities in the Hudson Valley that left multiple officers injured and unable to work as a result of the assaults. That is four too many attacks as far as I am concerned. 

These senseless, unprovoked attacks on staff continue to go unchecked and without any ramifications. The HALT Act stripped any discipline that remained to deter inmates from attacking staff or other inmates. 

If this continues without the ongoing violence being addressed by the legislature, I am certain there will come a day where an officer is critically injured, permanently maimed or killed at the hands of an inmate. 

We are in a crisis currently, and unless there is action taken by our elected officials to address the violence, it will only get worse. Sadly, one of the officers injured at Otisville is a Little League coach in the community he lives in. His hand injury is serious enough that he will not be able to complete all the duties of a coach, and the kids that he coaches suffer because of that. 

His story is one of many, about officers who volunteer their time and because of injuries cannot do it anymore.

James Miller is the director of public relations for the New York State Corrections Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA).

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