Corrections officers in New York say their working conditions are dangerous and they are forced into overtime. They have walked off the job at 41 of the state’s 42 prisons.
Corrections officers in New York say their working conditions are dangerous and they are forced into overtime. They have walked off the job at 41 of the state’s 42 prisons.
Corrections officers in New York say their working conditions are dangerous and they are forced into overtime. They have walked off the job at 41 of the state’s 42 prisons.
Restrictions on solitary confinement in New York State prisons were suspended Thursday and visits were canceled as corrections officers continued wildcat strikes despite a judge’s order.
The walkouts had spread to 41 of the state’s 42 prisons by Thursday afternoon. News cameras captured images of National Guard troops descending in helicopters and Humvees to replace corrections officers, who say they are protesting forced overtime and dangerous conditions.
Daniel Martuscello III, the state corrections commissioner, said in a memo that to control the situation inside the facilities he was canceling “specific elements” of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, known as HALT. His memo, titled “Path to Restoring Workforce,” did not cite which parts of the law were being paused.
“We are suspending the elements of HALT that cannot safely be operationalized under a prison-wide state of emergency until we can safely operate the prisons,” he wrote.
He said that the law, signed by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2021, allowed suspensions under “exceptional circumstances” when there is “a significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other incarcerated persons, staff or the facility.”
The move alarmed groups that support inmates’ rights, whose members also learned on Thursday that officials at the state corrections department had canceled visits at all prisons “until further notice.”