The lockdown has shifted more duties onto the limited workforce at the medium security prison, causing some corrections officers there to worry about the safety of everyone inside as inmates become frustrated with a lack of basic freedoms as the prison contends with what the union president describes as chronic understaffing.

Darrell Pilon, the president of AFGE Local 3882, the union representing FCI Ray Brook’s corrections officers, said the prison of around 710 inmates has been on full lockdown since Friday, with no inmates leaving their cells except for showers every three days. He said this lockdown is expected to end in a few days after a full sweep of the facility for contraband and the transfer of an inmate who attacked another inmate last week.

But visitations to the prison and other normal privileges might take longer to resume.

The Enterprise reached out to local representatives for the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ FCI Ray Brook facility for comment but did not get a response.

The Federal Correctional Institute at Ray Brook is seen in April 2016. (Enterprise photo — Antonio Olivero)

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The attack

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Every two weeks, a busload of new inmates arrives at the prison and some inmates are transferred out, which Pilon said changes the population and the tenor of the facility.

According to Pilon, on Sept. 4, a newer inmate stabbed another inmate 20 to 30 times. The prisoner who was stabbed has been at Ray Brook for a while.

The inmate who was attacked was wearing clothing and the attacker had used a makeshift weapon formed from sharpened metal with a handle made of string, so the inmate who was attacked did not have any actual puncture wounds, Pilon said. His minor injuries meant he didn’t have to go to an outside hospital. They were abrasions prison medical staff could work on.

Pilon said both inmates are members of the Bloods gang from different regions of the U.S. but he was unsure of exactly what their dispute was about.

Both inmates were sent to isolation in the Special Housing Unit, and Pilon said the attacker told guards if he was let out and saw any midwest Blood he would kill them.

He said prison authorities are still gathering information and investigating the fight.

After this fight, the prison started running on modified operations. Only low-risk inmates could work, so those inmates were picking up the slack in food service and other duties.

A few days later, Pilon said, one of these inmates came to work high and when he was sent to the SHU, officers found a sharpened screw fastened to a toothbrush.

“(Low-risk inmates are) supposed to be generally better behaved because of the lower classification,” Pilon said. “They’re not supposed to be involved in weapon-making, drugs, hooch, all that stuff. But, I mean, it is prison.”

A few days later, inmates working in food service became “disruptive” to the housing unit officer, Pilon said.

After this fight and some smaller compounding conflicts and disruptions, Warden Erik Rickard gave the order to begin a full lockdown, Pilon said. This means zero inmate movement. Everyone is locked in their cells and can only come out for a shower mandated every three days, before returning to their cell.

Inmates cannot communicate with anyone on the outside, can’t attend classes or spend time outside and can’t shop at the commissary, according to Pilon.

Pilon said the prison is doing a facility-wide search for “drugs, hooch, weapons, stuff of that nature” and will likely go back to a modified operation after that, meaning inmates can come back out of their cells to shower on their own and communicate with family through phone calls and writing emails. It is up to the warden if visitations can resume then, but Pilon doesn’t think they’ll start back up immediately.

He said they’ll likely have a slow transition to make sure there are no further issues with inmates, letting them out of their cells but containing them to their units.

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Corrections concerns

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Even if the lockdown ends this week, a prison staff member who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution said the commissary is taking inventory and couldn’t open right away. There’s also talk of recreation staying closed through the end of the month as staff there pick up correctional duties.

“We’re really heading towards a boiling point at the institution right now with the inmates,” the staff member said. “Staff should be scared and if they’re not it’s just because they don’t know any better.

“The meals that they’re being served is garbage,” the anonymous staff member said of the inmates.

Instead of one hot meal a day, they’re getting one hot meal every three days, since inmates aren’t working in the kitchens. This staff member said inmates are getting bag meals of peanut butter and jelly and a piece of fruit.

As staff get stretched thin, the prison offers fewer freedoms to its inmates, and the inmates become more disgruntled, they said.

“There’s a lot of tension right now and there’s a lot of punishment for what inmates felt like they don’t deserve,” the staff member said.

None of them had anything to do with this, and they’re all suffering a very low quality of life — even for prison — as a result, they said. This staff member worries there could be a riot or protest soon.

“If you look at all of history, the major uprisings in prisons, it’s because of their food service situation, or their commissary or basic rights being taken away,” they said. “I don’t think I’ve seen a situation where the inmates are so disgruntled. Even during COVID, with all the lockdowns, we were at least putting forward good meals.”

This staff member said they have no faith in the BOP administration to change anything.

In the meantime, the staff member worries about the worsening conditions for inmates and officers alike.

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Staffing crisis

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When the prison is in lockdown it is a lot more “labor intensive” for staff, Pilon said. Correctional officers have to pick up all the jobs inmates were doing — preparing food, making deliveries, taking out the trash — which means more overtime is needed.

Pilon said FCI Ray Brook is at 60% staffing right now. The prison has a population of 710 inmates, and around 71 correctional officers, he said. That’s one CO for every 10 inmates.

There are also around 74 noncustodial staff — teachers, maintenance workers, case managers and such.

With low CO staffing levels, the prison leans on “augmentation” to fill the gaps. Augmentation brings in the prison’s non-custody staff — teachers, electricians, plumbers, medical workers, case managers and counselors — to do correctional officer work. They’re all qualified to do this work, but when they are constantly pulled out of their primary jobs, no one else does their work.

An audit of the prison in June showed it had a capacity of 741 inmates and a population at that time of 843.

“We’re still extremely short-staffed,” the anonymous staff member said.

The prison is barely keeping up with the rate they are losing staff, and while its numbers look stable, the staff member said the prison is using a lot of young, inexperienced officers who don’t have as much training.

“These fights are happening because we just don’t have the right staff,” the staff member said.

This staffing crisis has been going on for a long time. Last year, Pilon said the “abysmal” staff morale had contributed to an exodus.

Despite every effort they’ve made to hire more staff, they haven’t made any gains, just maintained the “status quo,” Pilon said. Between retirements, staff leaving and promotions, even when they make new hires, anytime someone leaves, they’re back to where they started.

The prison has had a 10% retention rate for the past seven months, he added.

The prison has been offering 25% sign-on bonuses for nine months now, giving new hires a quarter of their initial salary upon hiring. But this hasn’t netted any improvements.

The starting salary is $46,495, according to Pilon.

“That’s the biggest problem,” he said. “We’re not competitive with anyone anymore.”

Pilon said union leaders are currently requesting a 25% pay raise. The Transportation Security Administration got a 30% pay raise last month and he said they saw immediate changes.

Years of issues with hiring freezes, pay freezes and the pandemic have built up and the BOP has been slow to adapt, Pilon said.