Sen. Stec To Visit Malone After 2 Prison Incidences
MALONE, NY — A North Country lawmaker plans to visit Upstate Correctional Facility, in Malone later this week.
Sen. Dan Stec will meet with prison staffers Thursday, after two concerning incidences in four days.
Both Stec and Assemblyman Billy Jones say more needs to be done to make sure everyone can feel safe.
According to New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), Wednesday afternoon, 20 staffers from Upstate Correctional were hospitalized after close interaction with an inmate. 12 correction officers, 7 nurses and 1 office assistant became ill, and had to go to the hospital.
A Hazmat team came in with special investigators, but DOCCS said no hazardous substances were found.
Then on Saturday night, almost the same scenario occurred. An inmate being treated in the prison's infirmary was found unresponsive but breathing. That inmate was taken to the hospital for treatment. Three of the responding correction officers and two nurses became ill and were also hospitalized. One of the officers and one of the nurses were given Narcan to be revived.
DOCCS has not provided any other information, but people close to the situation have. The sister of one of the staffers did not want to be identified, but she said she is deeply concerned, confused and frustrated with what she calls an overall lack of integrity inside a prison system without proper safety measures. She said her sister is one of the staffers that was given Narcan after getting sick. She said her sister is currently at a hospital dealing with symptoms of what she and other sources say DOCCS is calling a stress related illness.
Jeff Dumas is retired from the New York prison system, but he's been following this situation closely.
'All these people falling out and being transported by the EMT and then the state and the admin saying that it's stress related? I've never seen Narcan used for stress,' said Dumas.
A big question remains; how are drugs getting into the prison?
'It's always been a problem, and it's gotten really, really worse, especially with Fentanyl,' said Dumas. 'We know how it comes in and we know how to get rid of it. But the people in Albany do not want to get rid of the drugs. The don't want non-contact visits, and that's where 90 percent of the drugs come in, visiting rooms.
Assemblyman Billy Jones, also a former correction officer at Upstate Correctional said,' We need to do everything humanly possible. We need to strengthen the policies that are in place right now.
Give the correction officers the resources to make sure that these dangerous chemicals and this contraband is not introduced into the facility.
DOCCS did not provide any updated information as of Monday night.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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