Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush (R,C-Black River) today voiced strong support for a new legislative package aimed at addressing the growing safety and staffing crisis within New York’s correctional system at a press conference alongside Assembly Minority in the Parlor of the New York State Capitol.

The proposal includes a 10-bill package (A.10430) designed to improve safety in state correctional facilities, address severe staffing shortages and reform provisions of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act that correction officers and facility leaders say have made prisons more dangerous.

Blankenbush said, “For far too long, Albany has ignored the warning signs coming from our correctional facilities. Officers are being asked to do an incredibly difficult job without the staffing levels or tools they need to maintain order and keep people safe. The situation has reached a breaking point.”

Blankenbush continued, “This legislative package is about restoring common sense to our correctional system, supporting the men and women who work inside these facilities every day and ensuring our prisons are safe for staff, inmates and the communities that surround them.”

New York’s correctional facilities have faced ongoing staffing challenges and rising violence in recent years, creating increasingly dangerous conditions for both staff and inmates. Supporters of the legislation say the package reflects recommendations from correctional professionals and is intended to restore order and stability inside facilities.

The legislative package aims to provide tools to help correction officers maintain safety within facilities while also addressing recruitment and retention challenges that have strained the state’s correctional workforce.

Blankenbush emphasized that restoring safety within correctional facilities is essential not only for officers but also for surrounding communities and the overall integrity of the state’s criminal justice system.