NEW YORK – New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to restore order as strikes among state prison guards enter the second day.
State officials and union leaders agree that the strike violates the rules of state employees.
“The illegal and illegal actions that many correctional officers have been taken away must be terminated immediately,” Hochul said in a statement. “We do not allow these individuals to risk the safety of our colleagues, those incarcerated, and residents of the communities surrounding our correctional facilities.”
The state corrections officer union said “members’ backs are against the wall.” They are calling for rollbacks on prison reform, including higher wages, stricter security checks for prison visitors, and those that limit solitary confinement.
The number of staff members who failed to enter the facility were not immediately available, but WIVB reported at least some staff members who have refused to enter the shifts in at least 25 prisons. Local media reported picketts outside multiple detention facilities.
“They know they’re fined and disciplined,” Kenny Gold of the New York State Correctional Officer & Police Charity Association told local television station WIVB on Monday in protest outside Collins Correctional Facility. Ta.
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Corrections officers met with union officials on Tuesday, Hochul’s statement added that she would force workers to return to their shifts.
The strike followed a new request for accountability for prison guards after a video released in January showed corrections officers be hit by a handcuffed man at Mercy Correctional Facility. He passed away the next day, and the governor ultimately ordered the prison staff to be fired. The death was determined to be murder at the beginning of February.
