The state correction officers’ union is revving its engine in the public affairs battle over corrections staffing levels — and driving the department up the wall in the process.
The New York State Correction Officers and Police Benevolent Association issued a press release Thursday morning advertising the facetious “first annual parking lot challenge contest.”
“Any state elected official who can drive their car to (Department of Correctional Services headquarters in Albany) and find a parking spot … will be entered into a drawing to win a one-week vacation in the Bahamas,” the release said. “You will be competing for a parking spot with hundreds and hundreds of highly paid administrators at an annual salary cost of over $75 million, so get there early.”
Chris Leo, NYSCOPBA’s legislative director, said the fake contest — there will be no free Caribbean vacations — is a way to draw attention to what he called the bloated DOCS administration.
“We figured this is a way to get the spotlight back onto the administration so we don’t have the same budget situation year after year,” he said. “We need more staffing actually watching inmates, not sitting up front.”…
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