A union official representing state corrections officers is responding tonight to allegations of inmate abuse in our News 12 special, "Abuse Behind Bars." 

“If someone comes forward with an allegation of abuse, it’s not going to fall on deaf ears.” 

Chris Moreau is the vice president of NYSCOBPA in the mid-Hudson region. 

He says thousands of reports are filed by inmates statewide each year and that claims of abuse by officers are thoroughly investigated.  

Moreau says the allegations from whistleblowers are just that, and denounced claims of cover-ups at Fishkill Correctional Facility by a retired corrections officer authoring a tell-all book about the prison. 

“Mr. Harrington’s comments are problematic for a number of reasons,” says Moreau. “If there’s any truth to them then it appears he’s complicit if he’s not bringing it to the public’s attention until 20 years later, when he’s about to publish a book.”

He says prisons statewide are seeing a rise in violence against officers since the HALT act was passed – changing and limiting the way inmates are disciplined. 

Eight officers statewide are assaulted each day, according to Moreau.