Suffolk County’s jails are being compelled to carry onto 125 felons who had been imagined to be transferred upstate — with officers blaming state authorities chaos for the delay, The Submit has discovered.
County Govt Ed Romaine blamed Gov. Kathy Hochul and stated housing a rising variety of state prisoners is placing workers in a harmful scenario as taxpayers are on the hook for a whole bunch of 1000’s in estimated additional prices.
“They’ve been convicted and are supposed to be in state prisons and they’re not because the state is just not taking them,” Romaine informed The Submit.
“Now, why is the state not taking them?” the Republican added. “Well, [Hochul] fired 2,000 corrections officers striking for better working conditions and she’s closing prisons around the state.”
Underneath state legislation, inmates sentenced to onerous time in state jail are imagined to be transferred upstate inside 10 enterprise days. However Romaine stated that has modified within the aftermath of labor unrest with the corrections officer union and Democratic governor.
He stated the delays are actually inflicting complications throughout the system, from administration to the inmates themselves.
A lot of the detainees within the two county jails — in Riverhead and Yaphank — are individuals accused of low-level crimes which are being held for trial and haven’t been convicted. They’re now bunking alongside convicted criminals who had been meant to solely cross by means of the system.
Romaine added that the inflow of roughly 125 felons is elevating critical security and administration considerations for workers.
“Our jail staff are already spread thin,” Romaine wrote in a letter to Gov. Hochul in Could obtained by The Submit. “I understand that the state faces similar staffing challenges, but it is unfair to shift this burden to the County with minimal financial compensation and little to no collaboration.”
The state Division of Corrections and Group Supervision blamed the backlog on system-halting staffing shortages that had been sparked after the state fired 2,000 corrections officers who participated in an unauthorized, almost month-long strike in March.
Romaine shot again that the staffing shortages must be Suffolk’s drawback.
“The law says they’re state ready, then they need to be in state prisons, not local jails,” he stated.
New York State is reimbursing Suffolk $100 per day for each inmate caught within the county jails, however Romaine stated the county pays $250 per day for every, which means taxpayers are on the hook for the additional $150.
“The warden and his staff calculate that we have expended approximately $280,000 in excess of what we have received from the state to house these state ready but unclaimed prisoners since February,” Romaine wrote within the Could letter.
Extra inmates in lockup means extra guards are wanted to work — with extra time beyond regulation prices, he added.
Romaine warned that if the backlog continues, it may result in harmful overcrowding and unravel the work the county has been doing to enhance jail circumstances.
“This is unsustainable long term,” he stated.
