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The New York State Department of Correctional Services, guided by the Departmental Mission, is responsible for the confinement and habilitation of approximately 58,000 inmates held at 67 state correctional facilities plus the 916-bed Willard Drug Treatment Campus.
The State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) has awarded annual funding of $40,000 to Phoenix House of New York, Inc. to provide female offenders with specialized substance abuse programs at the Department of Correctional Services' reentry unit at Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan. The programming is designed to prepare women with chemical dependence needs for their release to the New York City area, where they will continue their addiction treatment in community-based programs. For details, see the press release.
The Department of Civil Service will hold a statewide competitive Civil Service exam for the position of correction officer trainee on October 16, 2010. Applications must be postmarked by September 13, 2010. In addition to passing the exam, trainees must at the time of appointment be 21 or older, a U.S. citizen and a resident of New York, possess a high school diploma or GED and must be free of felony convictions. For more information, click on the "Jobs Available" tab on the left or see the press release.
On July 30, 2010, Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Brian
Fischer and ESDC Chairman / DED Commissioner Dennis M. Mullen jointly released
the Adaptive Reuse Plan
report
for Lyon Mountain Correctional Facility and the minimum security portion of
Butler Correctional Facility pursuant to law. A recent statutory change shifted
responsibility for reuse reports from the Commissioner of DOCS to the Commissioner
of Economic Development, however, because DOCS had completed most of the work
on the current reuse report before that change, Commissioners Fischer and
Mullen agreed to release this report jointly. Also included with the release
is a series of Exhibits
that were referred to in the report.
The Summer 2010 issue of the Department's quarterly newsletter
is now available to view. Previous issues are also available on the "News
Room" tab on the left-hand column.
The Department of Correctional Services held its 11th annual Memorial Service & Medals Ceremony on June 10, 2010. Commissioner Brian Fischer honored two employees with Medals of Merit for acts of bravery, courage and selflessness last year and memorialized the 35 New York State prison employees who have died in the line of duty.
Security Services Unit employees represented by the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association are now eligible for all the benefit programs offered by WorkLife Services, including for the first time the Dependent Care Advantage Account, which allows employees to set aside $300 to $800 annually of pre-tax salary for their child care, elder care, or disabled dependent care. Also available are the Employee Assistance Program, Worksite Child Care Centers located around New York, full-day seminars for those nearing retirement age, and NYS-Balance and NYS-Ride, both of which were previously available as the Lifeworks program and a limited pilot program, respectively. Detailed information about these negotiated benefits is available at www.worklife.state.ny.us and through program-specific telephone numbers and websites.