COBA SUES SEEKING TO HAVE VACCINE MANDATE STRICKEN AS UNFOUNDED

Claiming that the effect of the de Blasio administration’s vaccine mandate is to penalize its members who have been inoculated against the coronavirus as well as those who haven’t, the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association Dec. 8 filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking a permanent injunction against it being enforced. Two days later, Justice Shlomo […]

NYC CORRECTION OFFICERS UNION SUES CITY OVER VACCINE MANDATE

The union representing the city’s correction officers sued City Hall on Wednesday in hopes of halting the “draconian vaccine mandate” that has exacerbated the agency’s staffing crisis. Hundreds of officers who refused to get the jab by last week’s deadline have been sent home — and the suit also seeks to undo the city’s order requiring […]

CORRECTION OFFICERS’ UNION SUES NYC OVER VACCINE MANDATE

NEW YORK (AP) — A coronavirus vaccine mandate for the city’s jail workers should be blocked, the union representing the workers said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that calls for a return to allowing regular virus testing and blasts the city-required 12-hour shifts that were implemented in anticipation of mandate-related staffing shortages. In the lawsuit, […]

NYC CORRECTION OFFICER ATTACKED IN RIKERS JAIL, SUFFERS DEEP GASH TO HEAD

A correction officer who has been working constant 16-hour days at Rikers Island for the past year was jumped by a detainee and beaten, suffering a severe gash on his forehead. The 31-year-old officer was working in a housing unit in the island’s Anna M. Kross Center on Monday about 3 p.m. when he was […]

GANG MEMBER ALLEGEDLY BEHIND RIKERS ISLAND FIRE, DOC SOURCES SAY

A Trinitarios gang member was allegedly responsible for the fire on Rikers Island that injured eight and quickly engulfed a housing unit in “dark and heavy smoke,” according to Department of Correction sources and records. The blaze broke out about 8:15 p.m. Friday after an inmate splashed his dinner in the face of a correction officer, who […]

FEMALE WORKERS AT RIKERS ISLAND REVEAL SEX ASSAULTS BY INMATES

One female correction officer at Rikers Island walks around the troubled jail complex with her back to the wall after a male inmate grabbed her rear end. Another wakes up in cold sweats, reliving the assault and attempted rape by one of her charges. She’s contemplated suicide. The two women, single moms in their 30s, returned to […]

QUEENS COUNCILWOMAN CALLS FOR INCREASED PENALTIES ON SEXUAL ASSAULTS, HARASSMENT AGAINST CORRECTION OFFICERS

As the humanitarian crisis on Rikers Island has claimed the lives of 14 incarcerated individuals already this year, Councilwoman Adrienne Adams joined the executive board of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, including its president Benny Boscio, on Oct. 25 to announce new legislative actions to deter the ongoing sexual assaults and harassment perpetrated against correction […]

LETTER FROM BENNY BOSCIO
President

Welcome to the official website of The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA). COBA is the second-largest law enforcement union in the City of New York. Our members are New York City Correction Officers, also known as New York City’s Boldest, who supervise the second-largest municipal jail system in the nation. COBA is committed to advocating for safer working conditions, wage increases, and excellent benefits for all our members.

Our website was designed to provide helpful information on the latest issues impacting our members and their families. You can also find our official union publications, news clips, and learn about upcoming events.

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STATEMENT FROM COBA PRESIDENT BENNY BOSCIO ON THE FEDERAL MONITOR'S SPECIAL REPORT RELEASED ON MAY 26, 2023

“After being appointed nearly 8 yrs ago and receiving some $20 million in consulting fees by NYC taxpayers, the latest Federal Monitor’s biased and one-sided “special report” is no different than the nearly 36 reports that came before it.

If the Monitor is interested in cherry picking data in a two week period, why then does he exclude the brazen assaults on our officers committed by repeat violent offenders in that same period? Or why does he exclude the numbers of inmates whose lives have been saved thanks to Correction Officers? The reality is that the Federal Monitor and his team have strayed very far from their original mission and this new report conveniently excludes key data showing any progress that is being made to combat jail violence, which is largely the result of the dedication and hard work of our officers serving on the frontlines.

These reports now serve only to provide politically-driven talking points for the City Council and the Board of Correction so they can continue to second guess and scapegoat our members, instead of providing oversight over the monitoring team and asking them what have they really accomplished in eight years to make our jails safer? It’s time for the Monitoring team to go!’

Benny Boscio
COBA President