Overtime pay is rising among New York state workers — and a struggle to recruit corrections officers to work in the state’s sprawling prison system is partially to blame.
State agencies paid out about $1.3 billion in overtime costs in 2024, marking a 10% increase over the prior year’s $1.2 billion, according to a new report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office. The spending falls short of 2022’s record $1.4 billion in overtime.
The biggest chunk of overtime spending came from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which oversees the state’s 42 prisons and has seen its workforce plummet by nearly a quarter over the last decade.
The corrections department spent about $445 million on 7.4 million hours of overtime pay last year, a 26% increase over its costs the prior year, according to the report. The $92 million hike accounted for more than two-thirds of the state’s overall increase from 2023 to 2024.
That’s partly due to a decline in the prison system’s workforce.
The corrections department’s workforce fell to 22,866 in 2024 — a drop of about 1,000 workers, or 4.4%, from the prior year, according to DiNapoli’s report. It continued a decadelong trend that has seen the department’s employee count fall by nearly a quarter.
"Folks who do remain on staff are being asked to work greater hours of overtime, and that of course places greater stresses on personnel and on the operations as well,” said Maria Doulis, deputy comptroller for budget and policy analysis.
In a statement, corrections department spokesperson Tom Mailey said the overtime was necessary for safety.
“The overtime in 2024 was driven by the ongoing staffing crisis and the need to maintain the safety of staff and the incarcerated, while continuing to offer mandated programs, as well as other essential activities and services within DOCCS correctional facilities,” he said, using an acronym for the department.
New York’s prison workforce has only dwindled further in recent months.
Earlier this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration fired 2,000 corrections officers and other staffers who refused to return to work after an unsanctioned strike threw the prison system into chaos for 22 days.
Since then, Hochul’s administration has boosted its recruitment efforts, in part by lowering the minimum age to be a corrections officer from 21 to 18. The department is also offering $3,000 sign-on bonuses for corrections officer trainees.
Overall, New York state agencies employed about 247,000 people last year, according to DiNapoli’s report. Collectively, they accrued about 24.5 million hours of overtime, or 1.8 million more than in 2023.
