Corrections officers would face random screening with full-body scanners before entering New York’s state prisons under legislation proposed this week at the state Capitol.
State Sen. Julia Salazar, a Brooklyn Democrat who is sponsoring the bill, said subjecting guards to the same screening required of visitors would reduce contraband in correctional facilities. The new legislation also provides a mechanism for a visitor who fails a scan, and is suspected of bringing contraband into a prison facility, to be re-evaluated instead of rejected immediately.
The state prison system remains understaffed more than a year after the fatal beatings of two incarcerated people by guards and a three-week strike by corrections officers. Republicans in Albany this week introduced legislation sought by the corrections department in the aftermath of the strike; it would partially roll back a 2021 law that restricted the use of solitary confinement in prisons.
The pair of bills shows how the prison system remains a source of frustration for lawmakers in both parties. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has said she is committed to making the prison system safe for incarcerated people and staff.
She signed a bill last year that required more cameras in prisons and is proposing to spend $535 million to keep around 3,000 National Guard troops working in prisons to supplement corrections officers.
Salazar and Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, another Brooklyn Democrat, said they drafted their legislation after receiving complaints from people who were accused of carrying contraband and then barred from visits.
“When wives, mothers, sisters, family members are told that they failed a body scan, rarely is contraband actually found or charges brought in response,” Salazar said. “Visitors are either turned away or even suspended from visiting their loved one for simply having items like menstrual products — tampons.”
Salazar also said contraband continued to make its way into prisons last year during the strike — when visits were suspended. “Staff should be going through the same security checks as visitors, so what this bill is about is making these policies fair and uniform,” she said.
A spokesperson for the corrections department, Tom Mailey, said it doesn’t comment on pending legislation. He added that bodyscanners — similar to screening devices used at airports — are important tools in preventing contraband.
“Contraband, such as drugs and weapons, contribute to violence in prisons,” Mailey said. “We look forward to our continued partnership with the Legislature to further improve safety and implement the prison reforms that recently took effect to help ensure a system that promotes safety and dignity for all.”
A spokesperson for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association didn’t return messages seeking comment. The union has pushed for greater use of body scanners; it blames contraband for contributing to an increase in violence and says exposure to unknown substances has sickened some members.
But currently, a corrections officer entering a facility can choose to be screened by a body scanner or an alternative method, like a metal detector and a frisk. Under Salazar’s proposal, an officer would be required to submit to a rotating screening method, which includes body scanners.
The provision governing visits in the new legislation is welcome news to Belinda Spurgeon, a 39-year-old East New York resident who in 2024 lost the right to visit her husband at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
Spurgeon said a skin growth on her back appeared on the body scanner to be contraband. Corrections officials stopped her from seeing her husband in September 2024 — and it took months to regain the right to the visits she had been making weekly.
“I went through a mental breakdown and I'm still trying to recover from it,” Spurgeon said.
Forrest said the legislation would allow a visitor to take a second pass through a body scanner and explain any alleged abnormalities. If alternative screening measures didn’t turn up contraband, a visit would be allowed.
“Right now, that process is confusing, slow and often inaccessible, leaving families powerless and frustrated,” Forrest said.
Mailey said visitors are allowed to appeal visitation bans to department lawyers. People who refuse to submit to body scans can have non-contact visits with prisoners if they are cleared by metal detectors, he said.
Republicans, in the legislative minority, separately introduced a bill that would expand the scope of offenses for which an incarcerated person can be placed in solitary confinement. Corrections officers said restrictions on the use of solitary have made it harder to maintain discipline in correctional facilities.
Assemblymember David DiPietro, a Western New York Republican, said he based the legislation off the recommendations of a committee composed of unions and corrections department leaders.
“Governor Hochul and progressive Democrats have routinely left correctional officers behind, prioritizing violent felons over the brave men and women who risk their lives daily,” DiPietro said.
Hochul previously said she would review the committee’s recommendations. Her spokesperson said she would review any legislation that passes.
