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The reported attacks highlighted by the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association have occurred at medium and maximum security facilities. 

At Five Points Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Seneca County, an officer who was attacked by an inmate sustained a facial fracture and separated shoulder. 

An officer at Downstate Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Fishkill, was attacked by an inmate. The guard needed several sutures due to injuries to his face. 

Mike Mazzella, NYSCOPBA's vice president for the Mid-Hudson region, accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision of ignoring the violent inmate-on-officer attacks. 

Mazzella said Cuomo and DOCCS "seem to turn a blind eye." He called for arming correctional officers with pepper spray and other tools to ensure their safety. 

This week, NYSCOPBA reported an assault targeting a female officer at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Oneida County. An inmate who's a convicted rapist attacked the officer while she was in the officer's station. 

State Sen. Pam Helming, who represents six counties in the Finger Lakes region and serves on the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, said she's "deeply troubled" by the recent attacks on officers. 

"These attacks come at a time when money is being spent to provide inmates with 'extra comforts' such as computer tablets," Helming, R-Canandaigua, said. "It's time to stop this type of spending and put it towards increasing prison safety for our guards. Limited manpower leaves (officers) at risk and exposed." 

NYSCOPBA has long pushed for increased staffing and resources in state prisons. Three Republican assemblymen, including Assemblyman Gary Finch, said shutting down prisons across the state created a more dangerous environment in existing facilities. 

Finch, R-Springport, and his colleagues noted that there were 760 assaults on correctional officers in 2016, up 45 percent from 2012. 

"These numbers are simply unacceptable," the legislators said. "These brave men and women are on the front lines of public safety. Their job is inherently dangerous. As a society, it is unconscionable that we would make their job even more hazardous because we weren't willing to provide them with needed resources." 

DOCCS has repeatedly said that the decision to close prisons — 13 facilities have been closed since 2011 — is due to a reduced number of inmates who commit drug and other nonviolent offenses. The reduction has allowed the agency to eliminate approximately 5,500 underutilized prison beds and save taxpayers $162 million. 

Since 1999, the overall prison population has decreased from 72,600 to 51,380 today. 

DOCCS also touted several security initiatives that have been implemented in recent years, including training for staff, de-escalation tactics and a pepper spray program. The agency said these initiatives have helped reduce assaults on staff by 15 percent and staff-related injures attributed to assaults by inmates have declined by 23 percent. 

The state has invested in Cellsense, which detects contraband and other technology, such as heartbeat detectors and thermal imaging devices. Fixed cameras are being installed in facilities across the state and the department is unveiling a body camera pilot program at two prisons. 

DOCCS also reiterated its commitment to appropriate staffing levels. These levels are "continuously reviewed," the agency said. Over the last two years, 268 new security jobs have been added. The agency aims to maintain an inmate-to-correction officer ratio of approximately 3-to-1.

"The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has made significant improvements enhancing the safety and security of staff and inmates in New York's correctional facilities," DOCCS spokesman Thomas Mailey said. "Millions of dollars have been invested in additional security staffing, technology and training, which have resulted in a dramatic decline in assaults and injures to staff. The department will continue to work closely with its hardworking staff to address any safety concerns they may have."