By C1 Staff
NEW YORK – Corrections officer Michael B. Powers is currently running for statewide president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
Water Town Daily Times reports that Powers is a 23-year veteran of the DOC and hopes to not only keep as many state prisons open as possible, but wants to educate the public on what it is that corrections officers do.
State officials have shuttered dozens of facilities in the past four years, with more due to close in the future.
Powers says that in order to make those closures happen, they’ve ‘embarked on a slippery slope of reclassifying the security ranking of large segments of the inmate population.’
Those found less dangerous are moved from maximum security to medium security facilities, while others are simply released.
This shifting of inmates, Powers says, has caused dangerous criminals to be put back on the street and has also created a more dangerous environment for COs still dealing with inmates behind bars. Assaults on staff, inmate-on-inmate crime and gang activity have all risen, he says.
Powers hopes to make changes to keep corrections officers safe, but also to use the position as a platform to educate the public.
“There’s the perception of being an overpaid baby sitter, which angers me to no end,” he said. “I’ve got 23 years in this department and I’ve always been an advocate for the job. It’s a job that has been labeled the forgotten cop. We are the officers that are behind the walls and the fences and nobody seems to know what happens in there.”
Former President Donn Rowe was voted out in recent weeks, allowing for the current showdown between Powers and Larry Flanagan Jr. for the union’s leadership.
The new president will be chosen by July 10.