Dozens of female correction officers want lawmakers to adopt a new law in the next few weeks to make sexually assaulting an officer a felony, as they say incidents of sexual harassment and assault in prisons grow worse.

Members of the state Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association stood with lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle on Tuesday in support of the bill to make forcibly touching an officer on the job a class E felony offense. It's currently a misdemeanor.

"I've been to Rikers Island and I've seen harassment of women correction officers — I've actually witnessed it myself," bill sponsor Assemblyman David Weprin said. "I was actually surprised that it wasn't a felony. We've outlawed sexual harassment everywhere in the workplace and it seems to be that the correctional system is almost an exception. It's not on everybody's radar and it seems, sometimes, that there are no consequences."

Christina King has worked as a correction officer at Coxsackie Correctional Facility, a male maximum security prison in Greene County, for 16 years and says sexual harassment and assault from people in prison have reached an all-time high.

"Because it is a misdemeanor, there's nothing they can really do," she said Tuesday. "Because even if they take the time as a [district attorney] to prosecute, they're doing misdemeanor time and are just running out of felony time, so it's not a deterrent."

The state Department of Correction & Community Supervision reports 950 incidents of lewd conduct by incarcerated individuals in front of staff last year. The total number includes staff of all genders, not solely females, according to the department.

As of Tuesday, DOCCS reports 274 cases of lewd conduct by incarcerated individuals in front of staff so far this year — on track to be higher than 2022. 

There were 22 charges of forcible touching of staff by incarcerated individuals in 2022, and eight charges of forcible touching so far this year, according to DOCCS.

The department placed a person in prison in solitary confinement due to a sexual offense 96 times last year, including incidents perpetrated by incarcerated individuals on staff, as well as incarcerated on incarcerated and visitor on incarcerated, according to the HALT Annual Incident List report.

"The safety and well-being of staff and incarcerated individuals is our top priority," DOCCS spokesman Thomas Mailey said in a statement Tuesday. "The department has zero tolerance for sexual harassment or sexual violence within our facilities and anyone engaged in misconduct will be disciplined, and if warranted, incidents will be referred for outside prosecution. The department tracks all assaults reported, however, as in the community at large, many instances of sexual harassment or unwanted sexual remarks, touches, or worse, go unreported."

An employee is examined by facility medical staff if they report they've been sexually assaulted, and transported to a local hospital for treatment or evidence collection if necessary.

"A crime scene is established and New York State Police, as well as the Department’s Office of Special Investigations, are notified, and an investigation is opened," Mailey said. "The disciplinary process follows the protocols outlined in DOCCS Directive 4932 and, in some cases, individuals are referred to the district attorney in the pursuit criminal prosecution."

The legislation has bipartisan support, with several Democrats standing with officers.

"The most important aspect is when an individual goes across the line, they have to be held accountable for their actions," said Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, a Democrat from Utica. 

Leaders with NYSCOPBA, the state corrections officers union, argue the incidents are on the rise because the HALT Act has reduced the effectiveness of punishment for assaults or sexual violence. 

The HALT Act caps the time an incarcerated person in New York can be held in segregated housing to 17 hours per day, and no more than 15 consecutive days, or 20 days over a two-month period. It took effect last April 1, or just over a year ago.

"They don't care about 15 days in the SHU or [Residential Rehabilitation Units]," King said of the incarcerated people she works with. "They don't care about it because they get tablets and their families all day on their cell phone essentially from their cell."

People living in the general prison population are permitted phone calls that last about 20 minutes.

"So it pays to kind of get jammed up and get in some trouble," she said.

King recalled seeing more incarcerated people expose their genitals to officers or masterbate in front of them.

"There's so many variations and problems of why it's not working," King said of the HALT Act. "But as a female, it's definitely not. I've been doing this for 16 years and sexual harassment and the things that are happening to me as an officer now, I haven't dealt with until recently — at all."

A lawsuit filed against DOCCS last month accuses the department of still using solitary confinement improperly and violating the law.

Democratic leaders support increasing penalties for sexual assault of an officer, but are reluctant to revisit HALT, saying the policy should not be changed if the department has failed to implement it.

"It's not even clear that a lot of what should have been done around HALT as it relates to converting spaces and the resources that are supposed to be inside of these institutions actually happened," Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Tuesday. "This is a new administration. We did HALT under prior administration, and so I think that again, we want to make sure that at least what's supposed to be there is there."

Weprin, who chaired the Assembly Correction Committee when HALT was passed in 2021, said the issue of increased sexual harassment and assault of correction officers is a separate issue from criticisms of HALT. The United Nations Mandela Rules defines prolonged solitary confinement that lasts longer than 15 days as human torture.

"There's no reason why, just because someone's incarcerated and committed a crime, that they shouldn't have contact with the outside world and contact with other incarcerated individuals," Weprin said. "I don't think solitary confinement is necessarily the answer, but I would not link it at all to this legislation."

Weprin, who attended Tuesday's rally, does not support amending or repealing the HALT Act.

But several Democrats at Tuesday's rally say they are open to making changes to HALT, including Buttenschon; Assemblyman Billy Jones, a former correction officer from Plattsburgh; and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, a Democrat from Forestburgh.

Gunther said tweaking the law should be revisited with correction officers and incarcerated people at the table.

"There's been more sexual harassment, there's been more violence and they work here every day," she said. "So what, do we listen to them? I think so."