GOUVERNEUR, N.Y. -- In November, Lisa Vaughn and Laura Douglass were accused of having sexual relations with inmates while working at the Gouverneur Correctional Facility.

In December, another civilian employee from the facility, Rachael Patterson, was arrested on similar charges.

"The public has been asking a lot of questions, 'where were the officers, we pay corrections officers a lot of money, where were they?' Well, back in the 1990s, under consolidation plans from the governor and the department of corrections commissioner at the time, they removed the officers that worked in the State Shop and commissary areas with the civilians," said Tom Haas, Central Region Vice President for the New York State Corrections Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

Haas is worried about what more workforce reductions could mean for the facilities.

"With consolidation plans, the more security staff you remove, the more apt you are to have a problem," said Haas.

We spoke with a representative from the State Department of Corrections who says even though reductions are made, those areas are still monitored.

"Officers are assigned to make regular rounds in those areas of Gouverneur where those incidents took place. Fact of the matter is though, that you can't be everywhere at all times. And the only thing I can tell you is that what happened at Gouverneur is really, really rare," said Erik Kriss, spokesperson for the New York State Department of Correctional Services.

Kriss says the department has a zero tolerance policy for having illegal relations with inmates, and in the absence of corrections officers, the law should be a sufficient deterrent.

But Haas says Corrections officers help deter that kind of behavior because they are trained to spot it.

"They know when something's happening, just by body language and listening to inmate conversations and paying attention to their surroundings," said Haas.

As far as future workforce reductions, Haas says he understands the need, but wants to make sure they don't just come from the officer level.

Kriss says the department is currently leaving administrative positions open, and is trying to make most if not all reductions through attrition.

"Fact of the matter is that we do have to consolidate, and we want to do this in a way so that no one loses their job," said Kriss.