Adrea Adamczyk has been a corrections officer for five years, spending most of that time at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy.
“I’m just there to enforce the rules. My motto is always, ‘I’ll give you what you give me.’ If you treat me with respect, I’ll treat you with respect,” said Adamczyk.
Besides her coworkers and the benefits, she said there’s not a whole lot that’s particularly pleasant about the role, but she feels like she maintained a “great dorm.”
“I thought my dorm was well-run. My dorm was well-run. It was quiet. It was clean. There was a lot of mutual respect between the inmates and the other officers as well as myself, as well as the inmates to inmates, in my eyes.”
But she said one inmate violated that respect on Nov. 18.
After receiving complaints, Adamczyk said she asked an inmate to take a shower.
Adamczyk said he took an aggressive stance so she sprayed him with OC spray.
Then she said he attacked her.
“He punched me in the face,” Adamczyk said. “So I sprayed him again. Then he continued to punch me in the face until I fell to the ground where he continued to kick me in the face.”
Adamczyk said another inmate pulled her attacker off.
She had a concussion, cuts and her nose was broken.
Adrea Adamczyk is a corrections officer at Mid-State Correctional Facility. She was hurt last week when she says an inmate attacked her – causing a concussion, broken nose & several cuts. She needed 70 stitches. Adamczyk hopes her story may lead to safer conditions. @SPECNews1CNY pic.twitter.com/YZBqN8Ha5U
— Melissa Krull (@MKrullTV) November 24, 2021
Almost her entire upper body is still hurting.
“I get foggy, slow speaking. I think I get a little scared sometimes,” she said.
This isn’t the first time a corrections officer has been injured, but Adamczyk and the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association believe violence in prisons is getting worse.
“We need a peak awareness of what really is going on in our prisons and the violent situations that are almost occurring on a daily basis now,” said NYSCOPBA Central Region Vice President Bryan Hluska.
Hluska said a number of things are needed, including a secure vendor program to help keep drugs out, body scanners, and policies that support the safety of correctional officers.
They’re also concerned about the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, which puts a 15-day cap on how long a person can spend in solitary confinement.
“Who wants to go to work and get assaulted? Walk in, and say ‘is this my day?” Hluska said.
“If someone asks me what it’s like in prison, they don’t understand that I’m by myself with anywhere from 40, some people have 60 inmates in their dorm, grown men that can gang up on you at any point,” Adamczyk said.
Despite the incident, the pain, and her road ahead of recovery, Adamczyk wants to return to work.
“I think at this point in time, I’ll be going back. It’s my job. It’s what I do, and I think I do it well,” Adamczyk said.
NYSCOPBA said the inmate who attacked Adamczyk has since been transferred to Auburn Correctional Facility.
According to NYSCOPBA, three more officers were injured by an inmate at Mid-State Correctional Facility just a day after Adamczyk’s attack.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the safety and well-being of their staff and incarcerated individuals is their top priority.
They said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
They also said they’ve invested millions of dollars into camera systems and microphones, and body-worn cameras in some places.
