RUSSELL: A spokesperson from the New York State Department of Corrections said that kind of retaliation is not allowed and that all allegations of abuse are investigated. But there's another problem - officers have been found to sometimes collude and cover up abuse. Alycia Welch is the associate director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at UT Austin.
ALYCIA WELCH: We know that staff protect each other, sometimes at all costs. And sometimes, staff look the other way rather than intervene when an assault or violence does occur.
RUSSELL: There's been a recent push to increase transparency and accountability in prisons. Welch says half of all states now have some kind of oversight in place. And last year, Congress passed the Prison Oversight Act, which streamlines abuse complaints and requires regular inspections of all federal prisons. Welch says this sheds light on issues facing both inmates and staff.
WELCH: You know, what we're seeing across the country is a pervasive problem of understaffing. So many agencies are just lacking the number of staff that they need to run a safe facility.