With most New York prison guards ending strike, governor bars holdouts from state jobs
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — More than 2,000 New York prison guards who were fired for illegally walking off the job were barred Tuesday from being hired for other state jobs by Gov. Kathy Hochul as officials took steps to recover from a three-week wildcat strike that severely strained the corrections system.
Prison officials said Monday evening they were firing correctional officers who refused to return to work after a deal was struck between the state and the guards’ union to end the strike. The deal reduces 24-hour mandatory overtime shifts and temporarily suspends provisions of a law that limits the use of solitary confinement.
By Tuesday, more than 10,000 officers were working at state facilities, down from about 13,500 before the walkout began Feb. 17. More than 6,000 National Guard members mobilized during the strike continue to be deployed at prisons.
“Today, we can finally say this work stoppage is over and move forward toward making our prisons safer for all, supporting our correctional staff, and recruiting the correction officers of the future,” Hochul said in a prepared release.
While Hochul detailed plans to add more prison staff, she also signed an executive order that bars state agencies from hiring prison employees who were fired for taking part in the strike. The walkout violated a state law barring strikes by most public employees and was not sanctioned by the union.
“There are consequences when people break the law, and that means you’re not working in our state workforce, ever,” Hochul told reporters Tuesday.
There was no immediate comment from the union.
The strike roiled a state prison system that advocates said was already beset by problems, including overworked staff and the failure to consistently provide incarcerated people with services and medical care. Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said she believed the system was “teetering on the edge” even before the strike.
“I think that many of the preexisting concerns are still there, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to address those,” she said.
The prison watchdog group counted seven deaths of incarcerated people during the strike.
That includes the death of Messiah Nantwi at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy on March 1, which is being investigated by a special prosecutor. A court filing by the attorney general’s office said there is “probable cause to believe” that as many as nine correctional officers either caused or could be implicated in his death.
Six guards were charged with murder last month in the December death of Robert Brooks, who was incarcerated at the Marcy Correctional Facility, across the street from the Mid-State prison.
The strike came as Hochul seeks authority in the upcoming state budget to close up to five prisons to make the system more cost-effective and efficient.
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Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed.
By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press
