By Reuven Blau
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A day after a city correction officer was knocked out by an inmate, more than 150 jail officers and supervisors demanded more power to punish inmates who act out.
The three unions representing jail officers and supervisors have long argued that they should be allowed to put all inmates who assault others into solitary confinement and block them from visitors or commissary access.
“We need to be allowed to dispense sanctions,” said Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, at a rally on the steps of City Hall on Thursday.
Officers behind him held up signs with bloody pictures of colleagues injured by inmates.
Inmate advocates contend the 23-hour-per-day penalty is too punitive and wreaks major emotional and physical damage — especially to teens.
But the de Blasio administration has struggled to come up with effective alternatives.
Despite a steady drop in the inmate population, the number of stabbings and slashings has surpassed 100 in each of the past three years, records show.
“Safe jails now!” the officers yelled from the steps of City Hall Thursday morning.
“These aren’t choir boys!” Husamudeen said. “Rikers Island is a detention facility for people to go in and out of court. We are not social workers.”
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The rally was held a day after Correction Officer Hiram Martinez was sucker punched by inmate Curtis Harris inside the Manhattan Detention Complex on Wednesday at 5:40 a.m., according to department records.
Martinez was in the middle of getting another inmate for a court hearing when Harris, who was out of his cell for breakfast, attacked him from behind, according to a source familiar with what happened.
Martinez, a probationary officer who has recently joined the department, didn’t regain consciousness until he was in an ambulance on his way to Bellevue Hospital. He was diagnosed with a serious concussion and held for observation for more than 10 hours.
“To be sucker punched? That’s crazy,” said another officer who works at the jail.
The incident is being investigated and Harris will be hit with added criminal charges, officials said.
“We are naturally very upset about the assault on Officer Martinez,” Correction Department spokesman Peter Thorne said in a statement. “COBA and the department share the same goal — safer jails.”
The de Blasio administration has allocated an added $200 million to hire 300 new jail officers and improve training.
“The safety of our officers is paramount, and we’re always exploring ways to make our jails safer,” he said.
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That’s little solace to correction officer Shyiera Daniels, 26, who had her eye socket fractured when she was attacked by an inmate on Rikers Island in 2013.
The attack left her with permanent damage, she said.
She now works in the Bronx courthouse where an inmate on Wednesday grabbed her hand and sprained her finger.
“The city isn’t doing enough to protect us,” she told reporters.
At the rally, the union officials argued de Blasio appears to care more about inmates than the officer in charge of guarding them.
The mayor has never visited an injured correction officer in the hospital during his first four years on the job, they say. The city has also not held a Medal Day ceremony to honor officers since de Blasio took office.
By contrast, the FDNY and NYPD have all held Medal Day ceremonies over that same period.
“It’s a shame that every other agency honors their hard workers,” said Faisal Zoubi, who represents top jail supervisors.
City Hall says it is challenging for the mayor to visit correction officers in the hospital because they are typically released within a few hours. Additionally, a Correction Department Medal Day ceremony is scheduled in March.
De Blasio has also made multiple phone calls to officers who have been assaulted as he does with other city employees.
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