By: Jared Evan
Correction officers and medical staff protested outside Rikers Island on Monday over what they described as dangerous working conditions, PIX 11 reported.
In a tweet on Monday, the Correction Officers Benevolent Association urged retired and off-duty city Department of Correction members and their families to join the protest.
“We’re calling on ALL retired and active, off-duty DOC Uniformed members and your families to meet COBA at the bridge on Monday, August 16th at 3PM. We’re joining forces with our union brothers and sisters from across NYC and we will make our voices heard!” the union tweeted.
Nurses, doctors and physicians working at Rikers Island also rallied on Monday today saying they fear for their lives as they are assaulted and terrorized by prisoners, News 12 reported.
Those at the rally say they are left to fend for themselves because of shortage of correction officers. Now, they are demanding the Department of Correction staff the prison properly. These front-line workers also say the New York City Health + Hospital systems has failed them when it comes to enforcing policies that keep them safe, News 12 expanded on.
Meanwhile, union officials for the correction officers said no one wants to work at Rikers because guards have to contend daily with violent assaults, including sexual attacks on female COs, and exhausting extra shifts thanks to the severe staff shortages, according to the NY Post.
Counter protestors called for reform of the officer’s sick leave policy.
City Hall and Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi pointed out in a statement released that about 1,600 of the jail’s 8,800 uniformed officers were out on sick leave at the end of July — and another 2,200 didn’t show up for work at some point last month without calling in, NY Post reported.
“They are at the breaking point,” Correction Captain Association President Pat Ferraiuolo told The Post of his union members.
“It’s worse than at the breaking point. They are the worst they have ever been in the history of Rikers Island,” he said of conditions and morale. “It’s a very dangerous environment.”
Ferraiuolo called city Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi a puppet of Mayor Bill de Blasio — and said Hizzoner was “an a–hole” for not doing more to alleviate the strain on the officers, NY Post reported.
Michael Nelson told amNY has been working as a correctional officer for over 17 years and during that time he has experienced and witnessed what he calls inhumane working conditions.
“I’m out here because we need change. We need somebody to care about us. We need the upper management to stop being negligent, to not turn a blind eye as to what is going on in this jail and the conditions,” Nelson said. He claimed that some officers are working beyond 24 hours without access to food or water as well as no running water in the bathrooms.
Republican Mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa also appeared at the rally. Sliwa took an opportunity to take a dig at his Democratic rival Eric Adams, asking why he was not at the event and rallied the correction officers and medical staff. “You don’t have that in a third-world country,” he said of the conditions
