New York State Senator Julia Salazar, who represents NY's 18th District. 

By Ben Crnic From Daily Voice

This story has been updated. 

A day after a corrections union demanded an apology from New York State Senator Julia Salazar after she criticized prison security procedures following the suicide of a longtime civilian staff member at an upstate facility, the lawmaker has said it is her job to find out what happened. 

In a statement issued Sunday, Nov. 9, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association called the Friday, Nov. 7, death of the civilian chaplain and 20-year veteran of DOCCS “a profound loss for the entire Marcy Correctional Facility family.”

As Daily Voice previously reported, the staff member died by suicide inside the facility’s administration building on Friday morning. Witnesses immediately began lifesaving efforts before the person was taken to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.

In its statement, NYSCOPBA said staff “rendered aid, applied pressure to his wound, and fought to save a colleague they considered one of their own,” adding that DOCCS’ Critical Incident Stress Management team has been deployed to support employees affected by the tragedy. 

The victim's name has not been made public. 

The union’s criticism came after Sen. Julia Salazar, and Democrat and chair of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, issued a statement Friday saying she was “shocked to hear about the tragedy” and found it “completely baffling and unacceptable that this could happen in a New York State prison." 

"My office will continue to be in close contact with DOCCS to offer any needed support, and to interrogate why the security team allowed a civilian to enter Marcy with a firearm," Salazar added.

NYSCOPBA called her comments “scapegoating,” saying DOCCS policy does not require staff, including civilian employees, to pass through magnetometers, and that the firearm was not detected because the staff member “was not selected for a random search that morning.” 

"That is not a failure of our members. That is the direct result of policies shaped, funded, and overseen by the Legislature—including Senator Salazar’s committee," the union continued. 

The union said if Salazar is serious about preventing similar tragedies, she should address systemic problems such as chronic understaffing, weakened staff authority, and the lack of wellness programs for both uniformed and civilian employees. 

"Blaming lobby officers for a suicide enabled by systemic policy failures is not oversight—it is cowardice," union officials said.

NYSCOPBA called on Salazar to issue a public apology, saying: “As Chair of the Corrections Committee, she has a responsibility to learn the policies she critiques before weaponizing a tragedy to score political points.” 

Salazar Responds 

However, on Monday afternoon, Nov. 10, Salazar responded to the union, repeating her desire to get to the bottom of how the shooting was allowed to happen. 

"Instead of taking this moment to reflect on what could have prevented this tragedy, NYSCOPBA is attacking me as the Chair of the Corrections Committee for accurately recognizing that a man was allowed to bring a loaded gun into a prison," Salazar said, adding, "That is what happened, and nothing they say can change that. To be clear, I did not name or attack NYSCOPBA at any point in my statement.

"The news here should be that a man tragically took his own life inside of a state government facility, and understanding why that happened. As a lawmaker, it’s part of my job to ask how this happened – which is what I’m doing," Salazar continued. 

She also referenced the beating death of inmate Robert Brooks at Marcy in 2024, for which a former corrections officer was convicted of murder, as Daily Voice previously reported. 

"When correction officers murdered Robert Brooks at Marcy, the same prison a civilian managed to bring a loaded gun into and use it to end his own life, NYSCOPBA members chose that moment to walk off of their jobs and deflect," Salazar said, adding, "It is no surprise that they are now responding in this manner after another man’s death at Marcy."