Striking corrections officers across New York vow to remain off the job until state leaders rescind a law passed in 2022 they say has made working conditions unsafe.
Corrections officers began walking off the job on Monday at Collins Correctional in Erie County. Elmira Correctional in Chemung County experienced the next walkout and the unsanctioned strike has spread to dozens of facilities across the state. Guards say their safety concerns are not being addressed.
New York Assemblyman D. Billy Jones visited prisons in his 115th district on Thursday to talk to corrections officers and staff. The Democrat is a former corrections officer. He says the wildcat strike isn’t something that happened overnight.
“Many of us have been voicing concerns about the deterioration of safety inside our correctional facilities. The HALT Act along with basically the deterioration of the tier hearing system really has had a negative effect,” Jones noted. “Also a lot of illicit drugs and
contraband getting into the facilities make it a dangerous situation for all. So this is a culmination of frustration from CO’s and staff within those facilities that has come to a boiling point.”
Current officers are not talking to the press for fear of immediately losing their jobs, but retired guards are walking the picket lines with them and speaking out on their behalf.
Gary DeCelle was a lieutenant at Clinton Correctional when he retired in 1998 and participated in a corrections strike in 1979.
“We went on strike because of a contract negotiation. This is a completely different strike,” observed DeCelle. “This is a strike for life and death. The insides of these places are just...gone crazy. There’s no discipline. The HALT Act that stripped the department from what discipline used to be to barely letting the inmates get away with anything they wanted to. They threaten officers and nothing happens.”
In an October 31, 2024 memo NYSCOPBA, the union representing the CO’s, which has not sanctioned this strike, called on the governor and legislature to address escalating violence within prisons. It says assaults on staff had increased 47 percent since 2021 and inmate on inmate assaults were up 118 percent over the same period.
Carlton Rabideau retired last July. The former Corrections Officer says the situation inside prisons is very dangerous, claiming the HALT bill prevents discipline.
“The HALT Bill has got to go. The whole thing, not parts of it. The whole thing,” insists Rabideau.
The increased violence is occurring at the same time staffing levels are low. The retired officers say current staffing levels provide for one officer per 60 inmates. What pushed them into a wildcat strike, according to DeCelle, was a memo issued to prison superintendents by Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III that states “70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%.”
“And then he made a statement that I found incredible. He said that will make for a safer facility. How does that make for a safer facility?” pondered DeCelle. “I mean it makes no sense whatsoever. And that’s kind of been what tipped things over.”
Republican New York state Senator Dan Stec visited five prisons in his 45th district on Thursday. He spoke to WCAX News at Clinton Correctional late Thursday.
“What I saw in these facilities, you’ve got guys that have been in there since Monday. They’re exhausted and you’re inside a place where 48 hours, 72 hours without sleep, or very little sleep,” Stec observed. “It’s an accident waiting to happen. And really this isn’t about anything more than, at its core, safety.”
Hochul has said the strikes must end.
“I will not allow this chaos to continue,” Hochul asserted. “I am directing everyone involved in these unlawful strikes to stop these actions immediately. Legal action has already commenced to ensure compliance.”
Rabideau says the officers that are striking recognize the risk they are taking.
“They can lose their job. You know they’re going to lose two days pay for every day they’re out here,” Rabideau said. “Everybody that’s standing out here right now understands that this could be their jobs. But by working behind that wall it could be their lives.”
Senator Stec said National Guard troops deployed to state prisons by Governor Kathy Hochul had arrived at Bare Hill in Malone. There was no indication of the troops at Clinton Correctional on Thursday.
