Pol Says Officers’ Public Safety Should Be Top Priority
By Hank Russell
Governor Kathy Hochul held a public safety roundtable on February 25 in which she called on striking correction officers to return to work or else face legal action.
“Let me be clear: the illegal actions being taken by a number of individuals is putting the entire state at risk,” Hochul said. “We need them back to work; this must end immediately.”
She said she has “worked tirelessly over the last nine days” to end this; on February 24, the state started mediation. “We want to find out what the issue is, because the individuals who’ve walked out — in an unsanctioned strike, unapproved by the union — have yet to tell us the issues,” she said.
In order to get the officers back to work, Hochul said, she deployed the National Guard at these state prisons to fill the vacancies, repealed a “controversial” staffing memo, suspended parts of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act — which has been a major issue with elected officials — and allowed striking officers to return without punishment. Anyone who does not return to work immediately will face “legal challenges.” She pointed out that, since the union did not authorize the strike, they will not cover the strikers’ legal fees; in addition, they will lose their health benefits from the state.
“We have tried hard to end this — I’ve had conversations with many, many leaders — but, we need a good faith effort to resolve this, starting now,” Hochul said. “I’m prepared to do that. I understand there’s a lot of frustration about the long hours. I have long stood with the corrections officers of this state — more than, I’m going to guess, any other governor — and say, ‘These conditions are hard.’ I understand that. We need more of you on the job, I get that.”
But Assemblyman Keith Brown (R.C-Northport) said Hochul doesn’t get it. “Staffing shortages, retention and salary issues, mandatory overtime and the disastrous repercussions of the HALT Act have crippled New York state’s prison system,” Brown said in an op-ed. “Escalating violence and inadequate security measures have created dangerous work environments for correctional officers who are just trying to do their jobs. This is ridiculous and must be stopped immediately.”
Hochul called the situation “absolutely untenable,” especially with the prison population being left unguarded. “We’re doing the very best we can. The prison population has declined by half over the last number of years. We’re working hard to consolidate, making sure that we are maximizing every bed in our facilities. In fact, we’re transporting members of the incarcerated population as we speak to take them to other facilities where I can protect them more readily.”
But Brown said the best way to protect the correction officers is to repeal the HALT Act, which he had fought against since it was first introduced in 2021. “Not only has the HALT Act hamstrung correctional officers in our state prisons when it comes to dealing with unruly inmates,” he said, “but it has also reinforced the notion that the state values criminals over correctional officers.”