ATTICA, N.Y. — The firsthand account of a correction officer is an example of why officers say the job is not safe in New York's prisons.

A correction officer for five years, a traumatic incident forced Jenna Kowtun to leave her job at Attica Correctional Facility.

“I was medically terminated because I was sexually assaulted while on the job in 2022 and I could never return back to work,” she said.

Kowtun has joined her brothers and sisters currently striking outside of the prison calling for change. 

“I have family in there and I have family out here, and that’s a big reason why I am here today, is a lot of these people, they took care of me while I was in there,” she said. “They still today ask how I’m doing and that’s super important to me. It’s important to me to be here for them.”

Kowtun is coming forward with her story because she says she is an example of safety being a serious problem inside prison walls.

“Prime example, right there. Where’s the deterrent? Where is the deterrent to sexually assault another female?” she said. “There’s no deterrence anymore, and that’s why there’s so many assaults on staff and assaults on inmates.”

Kowtun stands with her colleagues in calling for a permanent repeal of the HALT Act. 

“The numbers do not lie,” she said. “The assaults on us, yeah they’ve gone up, but the assaults on inmates, that’s gone way up and they know that. There’s nothing there to protect them. And they’re the ones that are getting hurt too. That’s unacceptable that we can’t even guarantee their care. Corrections is care, custody and control. That’s all gone.”

And Kowtun is part of an effort to change the law involving sexually-related attacks at prisons.

“Unfortunately, forcible touching is only a misdemeanor. So, if that inmate forcibly touched me, that means nothing to a convicted felon. That does not add time to their sentence,” she sai.d “So what women in corrections specifically, what we’re trying to do these last few years, is change forcible touching to a felony.”

Kowtun says it’s difficult to be outside of the prison where she was assaulted and even more challenging to tell her story publicly. But she explains why she comes forward. 

“I think it’s good for the public to put a face to what’s going on because you can read statistics all day long of assaults, but I’m somebody’s daughter, I’m somebody’s wife and I was sexually assaulted,” said Kowtun. “I’m a real person. I’m not just a statistic.”