Griffo Calls for Full Investigation of the Department of Corrections

(Albany)  Senator Joseph A. Griffo (R,IP,C -Rome) today released a copy of his letter to the State Comptroller and the Inspector General asking for the full investigation of all 75 of the Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) work locations located throughout the state.
 
Griffo noted that the recent reports which exposed a high-ranking DOCS official who was effectively able to steal a half a million dollars point to a need for a deeper probe.  “In a time when New York State faces an unprecedented fiscal deficit and hardworking families are trying to make ends meet, there is simply no room for waste and abuse in state government,” Griffo wrote.
 
Senator Griffo has also asked the two Committee Chairs for the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations and the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections to hold hearings to find out if there is widespread mismanagement in DOCS and to discover its full extent.
 
“There are no assurances that this was just the work of a single man or a single unit,” Griffo added. “We need to have a full assessment of whether there is an endemic pattern of officials choosing to turn a blind eye to this kind of abuse.”
 
Griffo noted that the Department is ultimately responsible for identifying and addressing these problems and that New Yorkers have zero tolerance for reading about corruption, mismanagement and abuse. “If it requires a redoubling of our efforts to find and fix these problems, then so be it, we’ll move forward and help agencies to help themselves,” Griffo finished.