{"id":8174,"date":"2025-12-08T15:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=8174"},"modified":"2025-12-31T14:43:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:43:26","slug":"retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired PEF member reflects on the good of DOCCS programming and the fight for safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Flower
A collection of landscaped and greenhouse flowers featured in a NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Facebook post on June 28, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 12, 2025 —<\/em> One of PEF\u2019s top priorities when it comes to improving working conditions and protecting its members at DOCCS is the delivery of quality programming to incarcerated individuals. Currently, DOCCS offers 97 different programs to prepare individuals for a return to society. They range from hands-on training in marketable skills like barbering, to adult education and aggression replacement training,<\/p>\n

At a legislative hearing in May 2025 that was called after the death of incarcerated individual Robert Brooks following a recorded beating at the hands of correctional officers, President Wayne Spence told lawmakers that programming not only helps lower the rate of recidivism, but it also helps mitigate issues related to solitary confinement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the best outcomes when being moved out of solitary confinement are programming,\u201d President Spence said. \u201c(When correctional facilities are fully staffed) there is either one-on-one, individual therapy sessions or group sessions all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, a now popular horticulture program designed to train individuals to grow, transplant, prune, cultivate and fertilize plants arrived in DOCCS facilities. Retired PEF member Steve Drake helped individuals begin their journey working with plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are teaching the population to build life skills relative to what they need to do to function in the workplace,\u201d said Drake, \u201cas well as trade knowledge relative to the variety of trades offered in the horticulture program, one of them being in the greenhouse industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drake retired in September after working as an educator at DOCCS for more than 30 years. \u00a0He started as a vocational instructor in 1994 before becoming an educational supervisor in 2019. As a PEF member, Drake served on the executive board and co-chaired the DOCCS Labor-Management Committee.<\/p>\n

Drake said educators are on the frontline working closely with incarcerated individuals in order to rehabilitate their lives and prepare them for reentry into society. It is often through programming that these individuals become successful once they leave DOCCS facilities.<\/p>\n

The horticulture program offers a chance for individuals to learn how to work in greenhouses, as groundskeepers, as plant propagators, and even landscapers and pavers. As part of the program, the flowers produced by incarcerated individuals help to decorate state buildings across New York including the Capitol Building and the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, various New York State Trooper\u2019s Barracks, and the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program has continued to grow over the years,\u201d said Drake. \u201cWe started growing for the Fairgrounds about seven years ago. We basically grow for every central office in Albany.\u201d<\/p>\n

A more recent off shoot of the horticulture program is the nationwide Harvest Now program. The program began nationwide in 2008, focusing on food scarcity in the United States by encouraging correctional facilities, schools and religious institutions to plant, grow and donate food from their grounds to local shelters and food banks. In 2016, New York State correctional facilities joined the Harvest Now program and14 DOCCS facilities currently participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really what I want people to know about the programs we provide at DOCCS,\u201d said Drake. \u201cThe agency as a whole continues to try to provide the ability for the population to be successful when they go home through these programs. We want them to do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Drake is retired, he plans to support PEF\u2019s advocacy efforts at DOCCS. He believes that as long as DOCCS remains so short-staffed, the needs of everyone who works behind the walls will be great. He is hopeful that PEF and DOCCS will continue to have a good working relationship and build a better, safer future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy work with the union and the department\u2014as hard as the work was that we did\u2014we\u2019ve always had the ability to have good dialogue. That doesn\u2019t mean we won every battle, but we have always been able to express our concerns to the department and try to resolve things together,\u201d said Drake. \u201cSometimes we\u2019re bound by law, and the dynamics at DOCCS have changed in the last few years relative to that, but we\u2019re still trying to come up with solutions to make it a safer place for our members, which is the union\u2019s biggest concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Tanya Oliver, a teacher at Elmira Correctional Facility, and Lori\u00a0 Greenizen, an Offender Rehabilitation Coordinator at Cape Vincent Correctional, now co-chair the DOCCS Labor-Management Committee. Find your agency\u2019s L-M chairs, <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 12, 2025 — One of PEF\u2019s top priorities when it comes to improving working conditions and protecting its members at DOCCS is the delivery of quality programming to incarcerated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-8174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-43-no-11"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRetired PEF member reflects on the good of DOCCS programming and the fight for safety - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retired PEF member reflects on the good of DOCCS programming and the fight for safety\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 12, 2025 — One of PEF\u2019s top priorities when it comes to improving working conditions and protecting its members at DOCCS is the delivery of quality programming to incarcerated...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-11\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF Communicator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T20:55:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-31T19:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/Flower-Header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ksheehan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ksheehan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b56382350a9a958e03dcd60443bfbf7e\"},\"headline\":\"Retired PEF member reflects on the good of DOCCS programming and the fight for safety\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-08T20:55:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-31T19:43:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":769,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Flower-Header.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/communicator.pef.org\\\/issue\\\/volume-43-no-11\\\/retired-pef-member-reflects-on-the-good-of-doocs-programming-and-the-fight-for-safety\\\/\",\"name\":\"Retired PEF member reflects on the good of DOCCS programming and the fight for safety - 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