More Than Half of Corrections Officers Still on NY Prison Strike

Two thousand striking corrections officers returned to work over the weekend, according to the state — but more than 8,000 remain on the picket line.

The wildcat strike continues at 32 correctional facilities statewide, despite a tentative deal. Staffing at Elmira, Attica and Wende in Western New York is thought to be among the most affected, state and union officials said.

Amid the labor unrest, hundreds of corrections officers and their families took to the state Capitol on Tuesday to denounce last week’s deal.

The rally, which was the largest gathering of corrections officers and their supporters in Albany since the strike began nearly three weeks ago, served as a poignant message to Gov. Kathy Hochul that the deal and termination proceedings against striking individuals have not convinced a large number of staff to return to their posts.

Based on statistics from the state corrections department, nearly 60% of the state’s corrections workforce is still on strike.

Rallygoers argued the deal did little to address their concerns over work conditions and to repeal the HALT Act, which sets limitations on the use of solitary confinement.

The rally drew state Republican lawmakers who argued the prison strike indicated a crisis of leadership on the part of Hochul, New York Democrats and top state corrections officials.

“Two things must happen: The HALT Act must be repealed. Kathy Hochul must resign,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin said to a cheering crowd.

The event was described as being self-organized by corrections officers and not by the correction officers union, the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association. Separate, smaller demonstrations inside and outside the Capitol on Tuesday drew advocates for incarcerated individuals and their families.

Union leadership has not sanctioned nor condoned the wildcat strike, and publicly encouraged corrections officers to return to work.

Orange County Democrat and civil rights lawyer Michael Sussman served as the emcee of the corrections officers’ rally Tuesday.

“One party has been pretty out of touch with the needs … of workers for decent wages, decent working conditions, safe working conditions,” Sussman said in a targeted critique of Democrats in Albany.

Sussman directed his calls to Hochul.

“Changes need to be made yesterday,” he shouted into a megaphone as the crowd cheered. “That’s my message to the governor and my fellow Democrats in Albany: You cannot ignore and brush aside the valid needs of your work force.”

In an interview with the New York Public News Network, Sussman said the tentative deal that the mediator for the state and the corrections union proposed is full of empty promises that won’t end the strike.

Sussman said it was an “outrage” that the deal — which provides suggestions for limiting 24-hour-overtime shifts — does not ban them outright, which is a key demand from corrections officers who say the practice is burning out the workforce. While Hochul has temporarily halted a requirement under the HALT Act that incarcerated people placed in solitary confinement receive four hours outside of restricted confinement for programs and enrichment activities, Sussman said the state needs to repeal limitations to the amount of time an individual can spend in solitary confinement.

“Repealing HALT is one thing,” he said. “Suspending the disciplinary provisions at this point in time are necessary.”

Additionally, Sussman said, the deal doesn’t adequately ensure required body scans for visitors or screenings for packages sent to prisons — nor are there reassurances for higher starting salaries or suspension of fines for striking officers.

“There are many, many issues that are not even broached, let alone rightfully addressed in the agreement,” Sussman said.

As the New York Public News Network has reported, the strikes have left incarcerated people with deteriorating conditions as individuals have limited to no access to educational programs, medical care and family visits. Incarcerated people also warned that repealing the HALT Act would remove any safeguards they have from solitary confinement, which they say is akin to psychological torture.

“Inhumane conditions” are unacceptable, strikers say

Joining the rally Tuesday was Joe Brink, who works at Otisville Correctional Facility in Orange County, and his father, a retired corrections officer.

“I was part of a large of people who walked off because of the inhumane conditions they put us through,” Brink said.

Brink said he was choked by an incarcerated person in 2023 and sustained an umbilical hernia because of it. He loves his job, he said, but he is striking because he doesn’t think the state is doing enough to keep corrections officers safe.

“How am I supposed to sit there and stay in and fight for this department,” he said, “when this department clearly turned their back on me?”

Brink said he was told through a combination of phone calls and text messages that he was fired and his health insurance was cancelled. But he has yet to receive an official termination letter, he said, and supervisors at Otisville said he would be welcome to return to work whenever he wants.

Story by Jeongyoon Han
Jeongyoon Han is a Capitol News Bureau reporter for the New York Public News Network, producing multimedia stories on issues of statewide interest and importance.

Image: Hundreds of corrections officers and their families took to the state Capitol on Tuesday. (Credit: Jeongyoon Han/New York Public News Network)