ALBANY, N.Y. -- Around 1,000 correction officers rallied at the Capitol Tuesday, voicing frustration with Governor Paterson's proposed job cuts.

Correctional Officer Daniel Mulligan said, "They want us to do more with less. It's dangerous enough to begin with."

More than 2,000 correctional officers' jobs could be lost to deal with the multi-billion dollar deficit, as part of the 8,900 Paterson recently proposed across multiple agencies.

NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association President Donn Rowe said, "We believe the approach the commissioner has taken is solely to warehouse inmates and cut frontline security staff."

Rowe said fewer officers means safety concerns.

Rowe said, "We are not a bloated workforce by any means."

This, as the state plans to save millions by closing prison camps and annexes, though jobs will transfer to other facilities or be eliminated through attrition.

But the New York State Department of Corrections tells us there's another side to all this.

NYS Department of Corrections Public Information Director Erik Kriss said, "We're in the same boat as every other agency. Every agency is looking at cutting about 6 percent of its employees."

Kriss said top officials can only wait to see if the unions and governor's office can reach agreement to minimize job loss.

Kriss said, "We are crafting a plan and working with the administration to make sure it doesn't sacrifice safety because that's our business and our number one goal."

But union leaders refuse to budge on principle as the governor argues cuts are necessary.

A CSEA spokesman tells us, "(The potential cuts) are reckless and irresponsible...We're doing everything we can to avoid them. The Governor needs to come around and stop being political. There are continuing conversations now taking place...that's more than could be said a month ago. We take nothing for granted in any of this."

Looking for the governor's response, his office directed us to the Department of Corrections.

Kriss said, "The safety rate in terms of assaults in the prisons is lower actually in the first quarter of this year than it was last year."

A debate between two sides who say they have the facts backing them up, with cuts possible in one month.

Mulligan said, "I work in a maximum security prison, and we can't afford to do anything more with less people. We can barely keep everything safe with what we have."