Hochul Threatens Arrests Instead Of Addressing Workers’ Concerns In Growing Prison Strike
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has escalated her response to a statewide prison strike, threatening corrections officers with arrests rather than addressing the conditions that led to the protest in the first place. Instead of working to improve safety for prison staff, Hochul is cracking down on those exercising their right to protest, warning that she intends to have every striking officer detained if they refuse to return to work.
The strike, now in its tenth day, involves roughly 15,000 corrections officers from across the state who are demanding safer conditions and an end to grueling work schedules. Officers say recent Democrat-backed policies, such as the HALT Act, have made prisons more dangerous while staffing reductions have left them overworked. Hochul, however, has dismissed their concerns,
On Tuesday, Hochul confirmed that the state has begun the arrest process for striking officers. “The proceedings have started,” she told reporters. “I think we have 380 people on the first list through the attorney general’s office and they’re being served by state police as we speak.” Marcos Gonzalez Soler, the governor’s deputy secretary for public safety, made it clear that all 15,000 officers could face similar legal action if they continue their protest. “We will go to catch every single one of them until they’ve returned to work,” he said.
In addition to the threat of arrest, Hochul is attempting to break the strike by cutting off health benefits and docking workers’ pay, with two days’ pay being deducted for every day an officer remains on strike. Rather than addressing the root of the issue, the governor has deployed 6,500 National Guard members to fill in for striking workers and has begun consolidating prison populations due to the lack of staffing.
The officers’ demands center around workplace safety, an issue they say has been ignored for too long. The strike gained momentum after a lockdown at Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County, which officers say was a direct result of staffing shortages and poor working conditions. A recently circulated memo from the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) stated that “70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%” and instructed officials to find ways to cut back on staffing even further.
While the state has offered temporary pay increases and some policy adjustments, striking workers remain skeptical, pointing to Hochul’s threats of legal action as proof that she is more interested in crushing dissent than solving the problem.
