Corrections officers around New York state are protesting what they describe as unsafe working conditions in prisons.
More than half of the state's prisons have been affected by the unsanctioned strikes, further exacerbating staffing shortages in correctional facilities.
The first strikes began Monday morning at Collins Correctional near Buffalo and Elmira Correctional in Chemung County.
On Tuesday morning, people gathered to protest outside the prisons in Dannemora, Ogdensburg, and Gouverneur. There are 10 state prisons around the North Country that employ an estimated 4,800 people and incarcerate about 7,000 people.
According to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, at least 25 of the state's 42 prisons have been affected by the strikes and protests.
Gov. Kathy Hochul responded to the rising tensions on Tuesday afternoon by announcing plans to deploy New York National Guard troops to the prisons impacted by the strike.
“The illegal and unlawful actions being taken by a number of correction officers must end immediately," Hochul said in a statement. "We will not allow these individuals to jeopardize the safety of their colleagues, incarcerated people, and the residents of communities surrounding our correctional facilities."
Under New York State law, public employees are prohibited from striking. The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), the union that represents corrections officers, said it did not sanction the prison strikes.
The union has been pushing for safer working conditions for years as well as the repeal of the HALT Act, which limits the use of solitary confinement in state prisons.
North Country state lawmakers Sen. Dan Stec and Assemblyman Matt Simpson have both called for the HALT Act to be repealed, while Stec also called for the resignation of NYS Prison Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III.
The prison strikes have forced some correctional facilities, including two in the North Country, to cancel visitations and other programs regularly offered to incarcerated people, such as college classes.
Jerome Wright, co-director of the #HALTsolitary Campaign who served 32 years in prison, said the strikes are having undue impacts on incarcerated people. In a statement, Wright mentioned the recent death of Robert Brooks, an inmate at Marcy Correctional near Utica who was fatally beaten by guards on Dec. 9.
“The illegal work stoppages aim to distract from guards’ and staff unconscionable lynching and killing of Robert Brooks at Marcy Prison as well as rampant guard brutality and abuse throughout the state," Wright said.
Hochul and Commissioner Martuscello both condemned the killing of Brooks. Hochul ordered more than a dozen staff involved in his death to be fired. The incident reignited calls to reform New York's prison system and increase transparency behind bars.
A union spokesperson from NYSCOPBA described the footage of Brooks' beating as “incomprehensible” and “not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day.”
