Despite threats of mass firings, correction officers at 32 state prisons remained out on strike on Monday, according to a state official.
The wildcat strike — not formally endorsed by the union representing state correction officers — began on Feb. 14. Officers want Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign an executive order to repeal the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary (HALT) Act and hire more guards.
On Friday, Hochul announced that the state would “temporarily” suspend the law and agreed to limit the use of mandatory overtime leading to 24-hour shifts.
Veteran arbitrator Martin F. Scheinman prepared the so-called “consent award”and it was agreed to by state correction officials and the union that represents the guards. But none of the strikers were signers.
Hochul has called up 7,000 members of the New York National Guard to help run basic operations in the 32 state prisons where officers remain out.
The strike is illegal under the Taylor Law. That measure, enacted in 1967, prohibits strikes by public employees in New York state while granting them the right to collectively bargain their contracts.
The state is in process of firing some of the officers on strike but fewer than 10 have been disciplined so far, Jackie Bray, the Commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services told reporters Monday morning.
“Yesterday, we began termination of correction officers,” she said. “Today, we will be terminating health insurance for corrections officers who have been AWOL and their dependents.”
The Hochul administration is also pushing to get permission from a state judge to begin arresting striking officers for breaking the law, she said. That process is expected to take several days, according to Bray.
“None of these actions we take lightly,” she added. “We have tried at every turn to get people back to work without taking these actions.”
State officials hoped the consent award would be enough to persuade officers back to work.
Under the proposed deal, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) would establish a committee to review “each facility’s staffing and operational inefficiencies,” according to the seven-page agreement.
Officers who work overtime on the weekends will receive a $100 pay differential per shift, the deal said. Additionally, the individuals who manned the picket lines or stayed home will not face any internal discipline or fines for walking off the job, the deal specified.
One labor historian said the deal appeared to favor the striking officers.
“Seems to me the guards won a lot through an illegal strike, including complicity by authorities in circumventing a duly passed law on solitary confinement, and more generally, a lot of say over how the prisons are run,” said Joshua Freeman, a labor historian and professor emeritus at Queens College, told THE CITY.
On Friday, the New York State Correction Officers Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) “encouraged each member to return to work based on what was achieved in the Consent Award.”
The union did not make any public statements Monday.
Supporters of the solitary confinement reform measure are furious with the proposed plan to pare back rules put in place by state lawmakers in 2021.
Advocates cite research, including by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, that shows isolating people for long stretches is akin to torture and causes serious mental harm.
Meanwhile, State Police are probing the death of a prisoner who passed away hours after he was allegedly beaten by a group of state correction officers at Mid-State Correctional Facility on Saturday, the New York Times reported.
The unnamed 22-year old prisoner was attacked by a group of a Correctional Emergency Response Team called in by members of the Guard, one witness told the publication. The specialized team responded after the prisoner allegedly refused to go back to his cubicle, according to the witness.
On Monday morning, Corrections Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III said “any death in custody is a tragedy” and noted that 11 staff members involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave.
He declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
Mid-State is across from Marcy Correctional Facility where a handcuffed Robert Brooks was fatally beaten by a group of correction officers on Dec. 9, according to body-camera video and authorities.
Correction officers began to walk off shortly after a Feb. 14 report in the Albany Times Union revealed that a group of officers would be criminally charged for their involvement in the Brooks murder.
Brooks, 43, was kicked and punched by guards who held him down on a medical bed at the prison, according to body camera footage from officers involved. On Dec. 27, state Attorney General Letitia James released footage of four officers at the scene who apparently didn’t realize the cameras were recording. At least three sergeants and a nurse were also present during the beatdown, the videos show.
The five officers seen beating Brooks on the video were hit with the top murder charges, according to Onondaga County District Attorney Willian J. Fitzpatrick. He’s handling the case after James named him as special prosecutor when she recused herself due to a possible conflict. James is representing two of the officers in a separate civil case brought by a former prisoner alleging similar abuse.
Three officers in the area who failed to stop the assault were hit with manslaughter charges.
All told, four incarcerated men have died behind bars since the strike was launched.
Anthony Douglas, 67, and Franklyn Dominguez, 35, died last Wednesday afternoon within about four hours at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester County.
The facility has been on lockdown since correction officers launched the strike.
The previous Saturday morning, Jonathan Grant, 61, was found dead at the Auburn Correctional Facility in Cayuga County, the New York Times reported.
Grant had been “unwell” and suffered a series of strokes, two prisoners at Auburn and a person who reviewed information about his health told the Times. The fellow inmates told the paper that Grant had asked for medical help days earlier but was ignored.
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