By C1 Staff
SING SING, NY — The correctional officer’s union will come together in a ceremony later this month to remember two officers who were killed nearly 75 years ago.
Around 6:45, on April 23, the union will remember Correctional Officer John Hartye and Ossining Officer James Fagan, who were both killed during an inmate escape, reports the Eagle Current.
Hartye was shot in the back by three escaping convicts who had smuggled guns into the facility. Just when it looked like the inmates were going to make a clean getaway, they ran into Fagan and his partner. Fagan was killed in the ensuing gun battle, and his partner managed to fatally wound one of the inmates.
The remaining two inmates ran and made it to a nearby wood, but were recaptured a short time later. Both were executed at Sing Sing. Two men who assisted in the escape received life sentences.
A vice president for the state correctional officers’ union says this anniversary is especially timely, as it reminds everyone of the dangers of working behind prison walls.
Officers at Rikers Correctional Facility have been under close scrutiny for brutality charges. Hartye’s murder tells the other side of the story.
“When you perform behind the walls, no one outside actually sees what this job is about – the good stuff you are carrying out for inmates, the dangers you face,” said Clarence Fisher Jr. “All you get is the bad prison guard story.”
Hartye and Fagan will be commemorated later this month with a 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps.