Over the past two weeks, correction officers at prisons across New York have walked off the job due to poor working conditions. The strike has garnered considerable attention, but Gov. Kathy Hochul says it is illegal.
Fox 5 reports that the New York Guard has deployed 6,500 National Guard members to replace the missing officers. Union leaders say the strike was not officially sanctioned.
This massive strike happened at 40 out of 42 state prisons, and 14,000 out of 16,000 guards have walked off the job. The strike also caused the death of a 61-year-old inmate, Jonathan Grant, at Auburn Correctional Facility, state officials said.
The strike has raised significant concerns over the working conditions of prisons and inmates’ access to medical care, legal services, and daily necessities. Some reports have even suggested that inmates were denied access to insulin and blood pressure medication.
This strike is the first widespread work stoppage in New York’s prisons since a 16-day walkout by officers in 1979, which forced the state to call National Guardsmen and state troopers to tend 21,000 inmates, the New York Times reported.
While Grant’s death is still under investigation, the absence of a labor force in prison may result in increased hazardous conditions and many more inmate deaths.
Erie County’s efforts to stop the strike by issuing a temporary restraining order last week, requiring striking officers to return to work immediately, proved ineffective. Any efforts to stop the strike so far have been futile, so unless the workers receive what they want, compliance to work will remain low.
