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An upstate prison was still locked down Thursday after guards retook control of three dorms following an inmate uprising sparked when a corrections officer seized one prisoner’s illegal cellphones.
Prisoners at the Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County captured three dorms just after midnight Wednesday and held them for several hours until emergency response teams and other officers could retake them, the Albany Times Union reported.
At least one officer was injured during the scrum, which began when a guard spotted an inmate trying to rid himself of contraband.
“There was a use of force which resulted in the recovery of two cellphones,” the agency told the outlet in a Wednesday statement.
“The other incarcerated individuals in his dorm became agitated and attempted to check on the incarcerated individual in possession of the phones, who was not injured,” the statement continued. “Later that morning, as a result of various potential threats, staff exited three dorms without incident.
“There were no hostages taken in any of the three dorms.”
Daniel Martuscello, head of the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, arrived at the prison Wednesday and green-lit emergency protocols that included negotiating teams — which eventually “achieved a peaceful resolution,” the agency said.
“Everyone is safe, one officer sustained a minor injury and returned to duty,” the statement said. “No incarcerated individuals were injured. The facility will remain locked down for a full facility frisk.”
On Thursday, a corrections department spokesperson told The Post that authorities started the prison “frisk” Wednesday and had finished searching one cell block by the end of the day.
“There were no assaults on staff or incarcerated, and no additional uses of force,” the statement said. “The facility will remain locked down as the full facility frisk continues.”
The uprising — which union rep Kenny Gold of the New York Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association said earlier hurt three officers, not one — came just two days after Martuscello had complained about staffing shortages throughout the state prison system.
In a letter to prison superintendents, Martuscello said sparse roll calls were likely to become the new norm — and “70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%.”
“I need each of you to do a comprehensive review of each post, post order, duty description and identify where we can eliminate and/or realign posts and associated duties,” Martuscello wrote.
“This exercise cannot be done in a vacuum, we should engage local union representatives … in order to achieve the reduction in staff needed, which will ultimately result in a better work-life balance for staff and an overall safer facility.”
Gold, the union rep, told the Times Union that Collins — a medium-security, two-prison complex that can hold about 1,700 inmates — has been “short-staffed and screaming for help.”
“They’re mandating people on triple shifts all the time because they don’t have enough staffing,” he said.
Last week, union leaders issued a no-confidence vote in Martuscello, who has officially led the department since May.
“Enough is enough, you know, that’s what all our members are saying that they’re done, they’re beaten down,” Gold told 7 News on Wednesday evening.
Martuscello brushed off the vote as “political noise.”
The corrections officers’ union has also said it’s against closing prisons and the strict state regulations they claim limit their ability to punish violent inmates, the outlet said.
“Assaults on staff are occurring at historic levels,” the union said in a summer press release, adding it was on pace to see a 100% increase in that kind of violent incident over the last five years.
And as their ranks thin — the number of guards and sergeants has dropped to about 14,300, a 15% cut from two years ago — the number of inmates continues to rise, reaching more than 33,500.
As a result, union heads say guards and others in the prisons are being forced to work long hours — including shifts of 16 and 24 hours.
