To the editor:

I want to start off saying I hope the officers at Adirondack Correctional Facility have a speedy recovery. [Editor’s note: Adirondack Correctional Facility in Ray Brook was renamed Adirondack Adolescent Offender Facility in fall 2018.]

Now I want to know if the state of New York Department of Corrections or administration at Adirondack Correctional Facility, even the Essex County district attorney are going to press outside charges against the inmates. You need to show your support for your officers who go into these facilities every day, putting their lives on the line, and that this behavior will not be tolerated. Or are you going to wait till someone loses their life? I certainly hope you do not wait and support the men and women on the inside, even knowing they are on the bottom of law enforcement, but they are law enforcement.

Back when I worked in the state prison system, a high percentage of the inmates were involved in gangs coming out of New York City and other cities in New York. These so-called children are street-wise inmates who live by the gangs’ rule and do not have any regard for human life, so stand behind all law enforcement. I am a retired correction officer, and I cannot believe how bad the department is treating the men and women who work on the inside. All Blue Lives Matter. Correction Officers’ Lives Matter.

Richard Gonyea

Vermontville