A state prison was locked down after uprising inmates injured three guards and took control of three dorms — days after the state’s Department of Corrections head complained about staffing shortages.
The rebellion at Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County began around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, union rep Kenny Gold of the New York Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association told the Albany Times Union.
Administrators pulled guards from three captured dorms after the officers were hurt — and the inmates promptly barricaded themselves inside, the outlet said.
“The Collins Correctional Facility has been locked down for the safety and security of the staff and incarcerated population,” the agency said in a statement. “All staff and incarcerated individuals are accounted for and safe.
“We have no further comment at this time,” the agency added.
Members of the Correctional Emergency Response Teams and other department officials arrived at the prison Wednesday, and officers had retaken control of two dorms by Wednesday afternoon, the Times Union said.
But they were still trying to clear prisoners from the third dormitory at the medium-security prison, sources said.
The New York State Police are also monitoring the situation, according to ABC 7 Buffalo.
The uprising happened just two days after Daniel Martuscello, commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, sent a letter to prison superintendents claiming staffing shortages will likely be the new norm.
The agency has had to redefine its role as a result, and “70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%,” the letter said.
“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.”
“Collins has been so short-staffed and screaming for help, and they were taking their regular scheduled days off away for a while now,” Gold, the union rep, told the Times Union.
“They’re mandating people on triple shifts all the time because they don’t have enough staffing,” he added. “My thoughts and prayers are with everybody in there right now, including the CERT teams and crisis teams.”
He also said he didn’t know the condition of the officers who were hurt in the scrum.
“They’re saying minor, but I don’t know for sure,” Gold said.
Last week, union leaders issued a no-confidence vote in Martuscello, who has led the department since May.
The commish brushed off the vote as “political noise.”
A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul — who appointed him in May — said the governor was “grateful to have Commissioner Martuscello leading the agency.”
The Collins Correctional Facility has two prisons that, taken together, hold about 1,700 inmates.
