Prisons face safety concerns amid correction officers strike

ALBANY – Seven prisoners have died since the wildcat strike by most of the state’s correction officers began on Feb. 17, including one fatality that prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to put 15 workers on forced leave after reports of “extremely disturbing conduct,” state officials said Tuesday.

Hochul said the strike in which 8,000 correction officers remain out at 32 of the state’s 42 prisoners is creating “a very dangerous situation” for prisoners, the correction officers who stayed on the job or returned at the threat of termination, as well as staff and the National Guard troop she activated to secure the facilities.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the prisoners who died since Feb. 24 ranged in ages from 22 to 71 years old. Two prisoners died at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility Regional Medical Unit; two at Sing Sing Correctional Facility; two at Auburn Correctional Facility; and one at Mid-State Correctional Facility near Utica, according to the department. The state said the causes of the deaths haven’t yet been determined.

Messiah Nantwi, 22, died Saturday at the Mid-State facility. Hochul said she ordered 15 staff members involved in the incident onto administrative leave pending an investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office.

“Early reports point to extremely disturbing conduct leading to Mr. Nantwi’s death and I am committed to accountability for all involved,” Hochul said. “This tragedy is a reminder of the need for real systemic change within our correctional system — beginning with the policies I implemented following the murder of Robert Brooks, such as mandating the use of body-worn cameras, expanding whistleblower hotlines and bringing in outside experts for a systemwide culture review.”

Robert Brooks, 43, died after a Dec. 9 beating caught on video at the Marcy Correctional Facility. Some of the staff face murder and manslaughter charges.

A week ago, nine in 10 correction officers were on strike, for a total of about 12,500, with 1,500 on the job. At that time, 38 of 42 prisons were hit the strike.

“This create a very dangerous situation for other correction officers,” Hochul said Tuesday. “The inmate population is at risk as well as – God bless the National Guard men and women who are inside there and dealing with absolutely unexpected situations.”

More than 7,000 National Guard soldiers are securing the prisons and with correction officers who have returned to their jobs, according to the state corrections department.

When prison guards “walk off their job and turn a key and leave people alone … that has to be called out,” Hochul said.

“There are serious consequences,” she said. “There is no justification to break the law.”

Hochul said she started firing some striking workers this week, took away health care care coverage for the strikers and their families, and said some will lose their pensions. The strikers face court orders to return that could result in further civil sanctions, but Hochul said more legal action is being considered.

“I’m working on a lot of plan Bs,” she said, without providing detail.

Hochul is also facing pressure politically. Republicans have supported the correction officers in the strike, which violates the state’s Taylor Law. The law prohibits most strikes of state workers to protect public safety and services.

Republicans have supported the top demand of the illegal strikers that a 2021 prison reform bill adopted by the Democratic-led Legislature be repealed. Republicans and strikers argue the law creates a danger to guards and forces some of the mandated overtime work.

The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act limits use of solitary or segregated confinement as punishment. Before the HALT Act, prisoners were confined up to 23 hours a day over days, months, even years.

Hochul has said that she can’t unilaterally overturn a law that was passed by the Legislature.

Supporters of the measure and a similar federal law say the act is safer for guards as well as prisoners and more a more effective means of avoiding violence.