Last month, the Assembly Minority Forums on Workforce Issues in the Correctional System held its final meeting at the state capitol in Albany.

Over the past several months, we've met with correctional officers, sergeants and civilian prison staff from across the state to hear testimony on their experiences working in New York's prisons.

At these meetings, it became clear to us that even under budgetary constraints, safety for both staff and prisoners must remain a priority.

The concerns raised at these forums will help our conference develop legislation and recommendations to help the state save money without sacrificing prison security.

We'll be compiling a report of our findings to be released in January 2010, and are eager to share what we've learned with our Assembly and Senate colleagues.

We'd like to thank each officer and staffer who shared their stories with us during this important fact-finding mission.

If you were unable to attend our meetings and would like to share your ideas on how to improve our state correctional system please call the Assembly Minority Office of Public Affairs at (518) 455-5073.

Joe Giglio and Gary Finch

Giglio represents the 149th state

Assembly district and Finch represents the 123rd Assembly District