Hawley responds to proposal to lower correctional officer age to 18

Press Release, Assemblyman Steve Hawley

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C-Batavia) is calling out Gov. Hochul for her two-faced approach to our state’s correctional system in her proposed state budget.

Currently, the governor is advocating to lower the minimum age requirement to be a correctional officer from 21 to 18 in an effort to combat the staffing shortage at prisons across the state. This staffing shortage was brought about by the Hochul Administration after it fired thousands of officers for voicing their concerns about unsafe work environments and the disastrous effects of policies such as the HALT Act.

Gov. Hochul’s budget proposal also includes a provision that would allow the governor to close up to five prisons within the next year with only 90 days’ notice. This move would only make the working environment more dangerous for staff by cramming more violent inmates into fewer facilities.

While Hawley is not opposed to lowering the age requirements for new correctional officers, he believes this administration is using this as a last-ditch effort to fix the problem it created.

“Gov. Hochul’s desperate effort to save face would almost be laughable if it didn’t affect the safety of thousands of hard-working correctional officers across our state,” Hawley said. “This proposal to lower the age requirements for new officers is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is clearly a political move by the governor to pretend that she supports law enforcement while appeasing her progressive friends in the Majority. If Gov. Hochul actually cared about the law enforcement community, she would reinstate all the fired correctional officers with full benefits and back pay. Until then, everything else is just talk.”