|
|
| Prison staff disparity raises flags |
| By timesunion.com - Alysia Santo |
| Published: 09/21/2012 |
|
ALBANY — Diversity was a cause for celebration in the lobby of the state's prison system headquarters on Thursday. A crowd of bureaucrats and employees from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision gathered to recognize "Hispanic Heritage Month," with speeches from Commissioner Brian Fischer and Supervising Superintendent Ada Perez, and a spread of Latin American cuisine, like fried plantains, rice and beans, and flan for dessert. But a glaring irony was left out of the day's festivities: the stark racial disparity between those who work for the department and those being held behind bars. According to the department's data, 3 percent of the prison system's 30,000-member staff identifies as Hispanic — about 900 people. Meanwhile, according to the Correctional Association, a state-sanctioned prison watchdog agency, 25 percent of the state's 56,000 prisoners identify as Hispanic, or about 14,000 people, a number that's on the rise. "Folks of Hispanic background unfortunately represent the fastest-growing offender population," said Osbourne McKay, the deputy commissioner for Correctional Industries and Accreditation. Other minorities are similarly under-represented. Half of all inmates, about 23,000 people, identify as black, compared with 11 percent of staff, about 3,300 people. Less than 1 percent of Corrections Department employees are Asian American. It all adds up to a staff that is about 85 percent white. Compounding the contrast, most of the department's minority staff work in prisons near New York City, while a majority of the state's maximum security facilities are in rural, mostly white communities upstate, which heavily rely on the facilities for jobs. Prisoners in these facilities often come from urban areas downstate. Read More. |
Comments:
Login to let us know what you think
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Have you been hurt in an accident in Waco Temple or Killeen? Our personal injury lawyers will review your claim to examine if there is enough evidence to support a lawsuit. You may be eligible to file a personal injury claim if you were involved in an accident that was caused by the negligence of someone else. Our Waco head injury lawyers work with personal injury experts to understand how the accident has changed your life and what money you need to go forward.