Inmate death reported as illegal prison guard strike stretches into 2nd week
COXSACKIE, N.Y. (AP) — A 61-year-old inmate died over the weekend at one of the New York prisons where National Guard troops were deployed to replace corrections officers who walked off the job in an illegal strike.
Jonathon Grant, who was serving a 34-to-40-year sentence for rape and burglary, was pronounced dead Saturday morning after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Auburn Correctional Facility, state officials said.
“Facility security and medical staff, along with a National Guard member began life saving measures including CPR and Narcan was administered,” Department of Corrections and Community Supervision spokesperson Thomas Mailey said in an email. A medical examiner will determine the cause of death, he said.
Information on Grant’s health wasn’t immediately released. It wasn’t clear if the prison’s staffing situation was a factor in his death, but the public defender’s office that provided legal counsel to Grant expressed concern.
“Since the strike began, Legal Aid has received dozens of reports from incarcerated clients across New York State about their inability to access critical medical care and essential prescriptions, including blood pressure medication and necessary insulin shots,” said The Legal Aid Society. “This tragic incident highlights the dangers posed by the ongoing strike, as staff in over 40 prisons refuse to fulfill their duties.”
State troopers serving court orders to striking correction officers
Guards at dozens of state prisons began skipping shifts and picketing a week ago in a wildcat strike that was not approved by union officials, who acknowledge that it violates bargaining rules for state employees and could lead to fines and other punishments.
The strikes prompted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, to deploy National Guard troops to prisons last week and promise legal action against striking officers.
State troopers confirmed Monday that they began serving court orders on an unspecified number of striking correction officers, as first reported by the Times-Union of Albany.
The staffing shortages have led to lockdowns affecting everything from prisoners’ medical treatment to lawyers’ visits to parole board hearings.
An inmate says tension is growing
An inmate at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility said he’s not allowed to send mail, attend religious services or meet with visiting relatives.
“They want the atmosphere to become violent to prove a point about staffing,” said Isaiah Waters, 37, who’s been incarcerated since age 19. “It’s like we’re caught in the crossfire between the union and their gripes with Albany and the administrators.”
Waters said in a phone interview that the tension is unprecedented in his 57-person cell block unit, now run by National Guard officers and members of a corrections emergency response unit. He expects it to get worse as the lockdown drags on.
“We’re not used to being around each other for this many hours day in and day out,” Waters said.
Mediation begins
Mediation between state officials and the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents the guards, began Monday. Prison workers are asking for better pay, an increase in staffing and safety measures including more through searches of prison visitors and a rollback of changes made under the Halt Act, which restricted the use of solitary confinement.
More than 100 corrections officers and supporters protested Monday in sight of Coxsackie Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley. Current guards, retirees and family members milled about with signs reading “NYS Failed Us” and “Wildcats.” Passing car and truck drivers honked in support of the protesters, some who gathered around burn barrels or ate grilled hot dogs.
The picketing guards would not give their names or speak on the record to reporters. But Ed Ventre, a retired corrections officer, said workers had been gathered here since last Wednesday because of deteriorating working conditions.
“No one has ever seen the amount of violence and disregard for the safety of the officers, not to mention the fact that staffing is at an all-time low and officers are being mandated to work 24 hours straight with the threat of termination should they leave the prison,” Ventre said.
Conditions in New York state prisons appear to have have deteriorated for both guards and inmates in recent years, according to state statistics that track a wide number of assaults, including those that don’t lead to injury. Assaults on staff likely doubled between 2019 and 2024, from 1,043 in the entire year of 2019 to 1,938 from January through November last year, the last month for which data was available. Assaults on incarcerated people more than doubled, from 1,267 in 2019 to 2,697 from January through November 2024.
Murder case against guards moves forward
Six guards were charged with murder last week in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by a group of officers in December at the Marcy Correctional Facility.
The last of the six to be brought to court, Nicholas Kieffer, was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty, prosecutors said. His lawyer, David Longeretta, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
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Attanasio and Offenhartz reported from New York.
By MICHAEL HILL, CEDAR ATTANASIO and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Associated Press
