Latest news with #DanielMartuscelloIII
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NY prison strikes: State gives final offer with deadline to return or be fired
A labor standoff that has roiled New York's prison system for more than two weeks reached a critical point on Friday, March 7, with striking correction officers ordered to return to work that day or they would be fired. State officials had made public on Thursday night the terms of their latest offer to workers, with a sharp deadline attached. They promised in a video address that the state wouldn't penalize those who took part in an illegal strike as long as they showed up for the morning or evening shift on Friday. Those who failed to return would be subject to termination. How that ultimatum played out was not immediately clear. State officials declined to say on Friday afternoon how many workers failed to show up for the morning shift, and the union representing New York's 13,500 correction officers and sergeants said it didn't know how many members had returned to work and how many balked at the deal. The strike began at two prisons on Feb. 17 and spread to many of the 40 other facilities in New York, forcing Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy several thousand National Guard members to take the place of absent correction officers. Workers later returned to their jobs at some sites, but those at 32 prisons were still on picket lines at the beginning of this week. Correction officers were protesting forced overtime, understaffing and what they say are unsafe work conditions. They're also demonstrating their continued opposition to a 2021 law that restricted the use of long-term solitary confinement as a disciplinary action. In Thursday night's video address, the head of the prison system laid out terms the state was offering based on his direct discussions with prison workers after talks with their union failed to end the strike. They included ending 12-hour shifts and returning to eight-hour shifts as soon as the strike ended and prisons returned to normal. The state also agreed to continue suspending the HALT Act — the solitary confinement law — for 90 days and set up a committee to improve prison safety. "I'm here to say that I heard my workforce," said Daniel Martuscello III, commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. "I want to support them, and continue to support them and continue to work with them on the safety issues that they've raised while out on the line. I want to end this illegal strike. We need to get back to some form of normalcy." Martuscello was joined by another commissioner who delivered the stern message that accompanied the state's offer, which she said applies only to those who returned to work on Friday. For all others, the state would file civil contempt charges, refer their names to the attorney general, and pursue terminations. "This deal will not be offered again," said Jackie Bray, commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. "We want you back, we need you back," Bray said. "You need to come back to work tomorrow." Sing Sing: Corrections officers, state negotiate after pickets outside Sing Sing, other prisons The strike violates a 57-year-old state law that prohibits most public employees from walking off the job over labor disputes. The prison workers took that action on their own, without the blessing of their union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA.) Earlier in the strike, state officials and NYSCOPBA leaders negotiated a potential resolution to the strike with the aid of a mediator, but most workers rejected it and stayed on the picket lines. The terms of that agreement were similar to those the state put to workers on Thursday. In a statement to its members on Thursday, NYSCOPBA leaders said they refused to sign the new proposal, in spite of pressure from Hochul's administration, even though it was similar to the consent award the had negotiated in mediation. They said new version was "stripped of any assurances that it will be legally binding in the future" and was presented with too little time to review it. "Do not mistake our intentions or motivation," they wrote. "We want to reach an agreement that gets our members back to work as soon as possible, but we cannot allow our desire for a quick result to jeopardize our ability to obtain a fair agreement that adequately safeguards our members' health and physical well-being and ensures their ability to reclaim a work-life balance in the immediate future." Chris McKenna covers government and politics and The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY prison strike: Workers ordered return to work March 7 or be fired
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Four Things to know about the New York Prison System's ruling family
— This story first appeared in New York Focus, a non-profit news publication investigating New York state politics. Sign up for their stories at New York's state prison commissioner, Daniel Martuscello III, is catching flak from every direction. Since December, when the state attorney general released video of prison guards beating an incarcerated man to death, Martsucello has faced calls for resignation from prisoners' rights activists and corrections officers alike. Some of the former see him as the kingpin of a brutally violent system; the latter as a gutless reformer who doesn't have their backs. He's faced protests, national outrage, aggressive inquiries from horrified legislators — and, most recently, a wildcat strike from his guards. Through mediated talks with the officers' union on one hand and promises for reform on the other, he's been working around the clock to keep both his commissionership and the state prison system itself from falling apart. How did Martuscello find himself here? While his tenure as prison chief is less than two years old, he's no stranger to New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS. He came of age in the agency, and knows its ugly side better than anyone. This week, New York Focus published an in-depth investigation into Martuscello's ascent. The result of a year and a half of reporting, the article reveals his role as scion of a state prison dynasty. It details not only the commissioner's rise to power, but his father's, brother's, siblings', in-laws', and that of his family's friends across the system. Thousands of pages of previously unreleased documents and testimony from incarcerated people, advocates, officials, and over a dozen current and former DOCCS staff tell the story of a man who's found himself at the center of a firestorm, torn between his professed progressivism and his background in a shadowy system. Here's what you need to know. Daniel Martuscello III is the eldest child of a New York prison dynasty. Dan Martuscello is second-generation DOCCS. His father started as a guard in the late 1960s and rose through the security ranks, eventually becoming superintendent of a maximum security prison. The elder Martuscello was an old school prison boss — simultaneously aggressive and savvy — with deep connections throughout the agency. He was such a DOCCS institution that some contemporaries simply referred to him as 'the Old Man.' The Old Man raised six children, all but one of whom launched careers in the prison agency. Three worked under their father's watch at his prison, as did three of the Old Man's sons-in-law. Dan, the Old Man's eldest, is the family's suave politician. 'He's very astute politically,' said Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit that the state tasks with overseeing prison conditions. He's won over key elected officials in the state government's Democratic majority, as well as some prisoners' rights advocates, who say he's as accessible and humanitarian as one can hope from the head of a sprawling 42-facility carceral system. Before his confirmation as permanent prison commissioner, sources described him as long destined to take over. Dan's brother Chris has also spent his years seeking power; he's shot up the ranks of DOCCS's internal investigations office. In contrast to Dan, Chris inherited his father's rough edges. Former staff describe him as a hot-headed tyrant whose main mode of leadership is intimidation. The dynasty is the center of a patronage network. Its main hub is the prison agency's internal accountability office. The Martuscello prison family functions as the focal point of a patronage network, according to former staff and documents. It has taken advantage of DOCCS's culture of favoritism, wherein employees in sought-after posts often have benefactors who helped secure their cushy or lucrative assignments. The network is so embedded in DOCCS that staff have dubbed it the 'friends and family' program. The friends and family network spans across the prison agency, from its nursing corps to administration to security ranks to its training and education programs — though its main hub is Chris's internal investigations office. That office — now called the Office of Special Investigations, or OSI — is responsible for digging into wrongdoing against both incarcerated people and prison employees. Traditionally staffed by former corrections officers, OSI allows the prison agency to police itself. Incarcerated people and advocates describe it as a black box, quick to absolve officers and adept at keeping DOCCS wrongdoing out of the public eye. It closes at least hundreds of unresolved officer abuse cases a year. A former head of the office was an old friend of the Martuscellos (until a state investigation found him covering for one his beneficiaries, an alleged serial harasser, and he retired). The Old Man used that connection to ensure that his family could get plum posts in OSI, per former staff and documents. Chris transferred to the office and quickly ascended its hierarchy, as did a buddy from Chris and Dan's corrections officer days, the Old Man's closest friend, the eldest Martuscello daughter's then-husband, and others. The Old Man even directed one of his sons-in-law to a specific post within the office, steering him away from an unpopular 'rat' unit responsible for digging into complaints of officer abuse. Around the time Dan became commissioner in 2023, other Martuscellos and members of their network also ascended. Chris became an assistant commissioner — and second-in-command of OSI — as did Chris and Dan's eldest sister, a longtime DOCCS nurse. One of the brothers' friends had risen to OSI's third-in-command, while their brother-in-law and family friend had become higher-ups within OSI's specialized investigative units. 'The Martuscellos — they all get hooked up,' an OSI staffer told state authorities. 'They got this juice.' Consequences of alleged nepotism have reverberated across the prison system. The friends and family network has made enemies on its path to power. Chris has been particularly aggressive about forcing people out of positions he wants for his favorites, former staff allege. That has not only led to internal DOCCS controversy, but contributed to some of the agency's biggest scandals of the last decade. Case in point is the story of Al Montegari. In 2014, Montegari was named head of OSI's sex crimes unit. According to court documents, he quickly called attention to problems in OSI, particularly within the unit Chris Martuscello was leading at the time. Roughly a year into Montegari's tenure, Chris and Dan worked to remove him from office, with Chris spearheading a seemingly bogus disciplinary investigation into him. Even though a hearing officer found him not guilty of most disciplinary charges, Dan, then a deputy commissioner, stripped Montegari of his OSI title — leaving the spot open for the brothers' friend, who was soon hired into it. The Montegari incident resulted in double blowback for the Martuscellos. Montegari sued over the alleged retaliation, and a jury eventually awarded him $500,000. (DOCCS is appealing.) His ouster from OSI also left a temporary vacancy atop the sex crimes unit. That forced Montegari's former deputies — whose abilities he'd said he doubted, according to court records — to sign off on investigators' work. While Montegari was suspended, his unit was digging into a complaint regarding rumors of an inappropriate relationship between a civilian employee and an incarcerated person. The investigator closed the case as 'unfounded,' and unit deputies signed off on it, even though the investigator didn't search the incarcerated person's cell, which would have been standard, former staff said. If he did, he may have found tools — and a hole behind the man's bed. Three weeks later, the incarcerated person and his friend escaped. The civilian employee had smuggled them the tools. and she'd been sending love notes to one and having sex with the other. The 2015 escape from Clinton Correctional Facility was a national scandal: It became the subject of a Lifetime movie, a Showtime miniseries, and an episode of Law & Order: SVU. The future of New York's state prison system hangs in the balance New York Focus's investigation into the Martuscello family illustrates how the state prison commissioner came up through a corrupt system. It also shows that he's a complex figure, delicately balancing his liberal persona with his status as a corrections lifer. Dan Martuscello's standing among prison staff is in the tank. Striking officers laughed off his initial demands that they return to work, forcing DOCCS to agree to recently announced concessions. Some have called for his resignation. His unpopularity is partly a result of what online materials circulating among officers describe as his family's 'nauseating' nepotism. That unpopularity also stems from the fact that guards associate him with forces trying to alter the dynamics undergirding the prison system's brutality. He has heeded some calls for reform after Brooks's killing. (Elected officials are calling for further scrutiny after guards at a prison across the street from where Brooks was killed reportedly beat another man to death over the weekend.) Guards have also railed against his willingness — however reluctant — to implement a statewide solitary confinement reform law, which they've tried to overturn since before it went into effect. That law not only shielded incarcerated people from the torture of indefinite isolation, but stripped guards of some of their power to punish incarcerated people arbitrarily. Meanwhile, incarcerated people and their family members are up in arms over continued abuse, they've told New York Focus. How Martuscello balances the demands of the 14,000 guards who work for him and the welfare of the 33,000 people in his custody will determine the future of a system that's shown itself to be a powder keg. As his past becomes clearer, the future of the agency he leads becomes more uncertain.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOCCS has started terminating benefits and correction officer jobs
DANNEMORA, NY (WVNY/WFFF) — Monday marks the 16th day correction officers across New York have been off the job, protesting what they say are unsafe work conditions. Despite the state starting terminations and ending insurance benefits, many officers say they will not back down. The state's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Commissioner, Daniel Martuscello III, along with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner, Jackie Bray, held an online meeting urging correction officers to go back to work. 'Individuals on unauthorized absence are deemed resigned if they are absent for 10 workdays and don't provide an excuse satisfactory to management, or explain their absence by the end of the 11th workday,' said Bray. 'All absences due to the strike have been deemed unauthorized absences.' Those that don't may lose benefits such as health insurance, and even possibly lose their jobs. 'Yesterday, we began termination of correction officers. Today, we will be terminating health insurance for corrections officers who have been AWOL and their dependents,' said Bray. Retired Correction Officer, Jim Mazzotte has been spending time outside Clinton Correctional, in Dannemora, supporting the striking officers. He said, 'They're not budging and they're just tired of being threatened. They want action. They want action from the governor. They want action from the commissioner.' The Taylor Law prohibits public employees, such as correction officers, from participating in a strike. If they do, they could face criminal charges. The current strike officially started on February 17, 2025, impacting 38 of the state's 42 prisons, according to Bray. Bray also said there are more than 5,300 National Guard men and women working inside the prisons, costing the state roughly $25 million so far. She also said the officers could be fined, depending on the total cost. When it comes to repealing the HALT Act, which has been a main focal point for the correction officers, Martuscello said, 'In terms of the executive order, as you know the legislature can override an executive order with 50 percent, plus one. So therefore, there's really no change that we can immediately make to the halt act, other than to go to the legislature to make changes.' That is what the officers have been demanding since the first day. As of Monday morning, officials said that only a handful of officers have been terminated based on missing 11 consecutive shifts for the strike. We're told some officers returned to work Sunday night and Monday morning. Many said they're not going back to work until they get what they need. Watch the full online meeting here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LIVE: DOCCS provides update on NYS correction officer strike
Editor's Note: News 8 is still waiting for the press conference to begin. You can watch it live on the video player. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision will provide an update on the corrections officer strike. DOCCS Commander Daniel Martuscello III will join Homeland Security Commissioner Jackie Bray will hold a press conference to discuss the update. This comes after a tentative deal was reached between the striking officers and New York State. Despite the deal requiring officers to go back to work on Saturday, some officers continued to strike. They are still calling for a revision to be made to the deal itself. During the strike, officers voiced concerns over extensive overtime shifts and the HALT Act. Even now, officers want the shifts eliminated and the HALT Act to undergo an extensive review. Governor Hochul called the agreement a win for the officers. DOCCS announced over the weekend that it began to fire officers who continued to strike after the deal. Monday's press conference was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. but has not started yet. You can watch it live in the video player above. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
DOCCS commissioner: correction officers can still return to work, will lose insurance Monday
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) — The commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) put out a statement on Sunday afternoon giving striking correction officers another chance to return to work before losing health insurance. DOCCS Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III shared the statement on the department's official social media accounts at about 12:20 p.m. on March 2. In the statement, Martuscello said that any officers and sergeants who remain on strike on Monday, March 3, will lose their health insurance that day. The strikers' dependents will also lose their healthcare, and this termination will be backdated to the date the officer began striking. According to the statement, strikers will not be eligible for COBRA, a federal program that allows some workers to keep their insurance at a premium after losing their jobs. Martuscello made a personal appeal for strikers to return; he stated that he wants strikers to return even if they missed shifts. This statement comes less than 24 hours after strikers were sent a message through the New York State Department of Employee Relations that stated those who didn't return to work on March 1 like the consent award mandated would be fired on March 2 and lose their healthcare on March 3. Hundreds of COs and supporters remained on strike at Elmira Correctional Facility on March 2 despite the notice. Martuscello's full statement can be read below: Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
