Latest news with #HALTAct
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Life after strike: Former Collins Corrections officer speaks out
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A former corrections officer said there were dangerous working conditions, horrible policies, and retaliation against staff who held the line at Collins Correctional Facility. Cain Luther, who served as a CO for over ten years, said the problems that they were standing up for had been happening years before the wildcat strike. In his view, there was a toxic culture, ineffective discipline, and the state was unreceptive to their complaints inside New York State Prisons. The former CO said everything changed once the HALT Act was implemented. The act was a testament to reforming solitary confinement practices. While state officials argued the law was a step towards more humane treatment for the incarcerated, Luther claimed the inside of NYS facilities is anything but that. 'The first letter in HALT stands for 'humane,'' Luther said. 'But there's nothing humane about what's happening in there. Guys are overdosing in front of you, flopping on the ground, puking on themselves—and there's no meaningful discipline anymore. Five years ago, that would have been a violation. Now? We carry them to the infirmary, and they're back on the unit later that shift.' According to Luther, the HALT Act has stripped COs of their ability to enforce rules, even with minor consequences. He explained that when inmates would smoke before the HALT Act, it would be a violation. But that has changed. 'Now they laugh at you,' Luther said. 'You write the misbehavior ticket, they say, 'waste your ink.' That's what we're dealing with.' He described the inside of the facilities being filled with thick smoke in housing units. Luther also said there were unknown chemicals in the air, which have caused him symptoms such as headaches, eye irritation, and dizziness — all hitting within minutes of stepping into a unit. Weeks after the strike, Luther shared that the conditions for current COs are still awful, with them being locked into 12-hour shifts, and the common practice of shift swapping has been eliminated. Many corrections officers who participated in a recent strike, according to Luther, are now being punished for it. He is one of several former employees who claim they've been blackballed from future employment, denied unemployment benefits, and cut off from programs like SNAP and HEAP. 'They're doing whatever they can to make things hard for us,' he said. One former officer, Dave Hilberger, who was a friend of Luther's, passed away on April 9 in the Groveland Correctional Facility. Luther believes his death could have been prevented. 'Dave had been feeling sick for a week, but he couldn't call out. They'd mark you AWOL,' Luther said. 'And this was someone who'd been asking for help publicly for months, saying 'we're tired, we need help.' But no one listened.' More than 2,000 New York State corrections officers were terminated after the wildcat strike that ended March 10 earlier this year. Now, many are claiming that they were wrongfully terminated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYSCOPBA requests 'urgent meeting' with state over 'workplace crisis'
ALBANY, N.Y. (WWTI) – New York state's corrections union is asking for an 'urgent meeting' with the state to discuss what they call a 'workplace crisis.' In a letter from New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), the union said there are a number of issues affecting the their members' safety, working conditions and well-being. 'There is nothing good in that bill': Retired deputy superintendent speaks out against HALT Act & striker firings Some of these issues include staffing shortages, workplace conditions, the implementation of 12-hour shifts, scheduled regular days off and vacation periods. The union would like to meet with Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) because these and other issues have 'reached a critical point following the recent organization of a grassroots strike organized by NYSCOPBA members to highlight unsafe working conditions.' The strike ended up leading to the firing of 2,000 correctional officers. A recent announcement regarding the early release of inmates up to 110 days before the end of their sentence is also compounding the issue. The early release of inmates undermines public safety and sends a troubling message to crime victims who continue to live with the trauma caused by those incarcerated and only highlights DOCCS failure to face the on-going consequences of staffing shortages in our prisons. NYSCOPBA President Chris Summers NYSCOPBA officials added that the state has 'been largely ignored by the Governor's leadership and DOCCS.' 'It's time for the State and DOCCS to recognize the importance of these concerns and work together with us to find lasting solutions,' Summers added. 'Temporary, short-sighted solutions of the early release of inmates is not a long-term solution needed to address workplace violence, staffing shortages and the inability to recruit new officers. ' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CNY homeschooled teen takes courses to save lives with Upstate trauma's team
EAST SYRACUSE N.Y. (WSYR-TV — While many teenagers spend their free time watching movies or hanging out with friends, 17-year-old Holden Swift is preparing for a future of saving lives. The homeschooled teen has dreams of becoming an EMT, so he thought taking Upstate Trauma's course was the perfect opportunity to get his feet wet. Snow tapers, milder weather on the way HALT Act sponsor defends bill as state Republicans try for second repeal attempt The Atlantic posts more texts from Signal chat group CNY homeschooled teen takes courses to save lives with Upstate trauma's team Preble's cemetery takes a huge hit and seeks the community's help 'I thought going and physically doing it would be helpful for the learning process,' said the 17-year-old participant. Stop the Bleed, Upstate's free 90-minute training, teaches everyday people how to control severe bleeding in life-threatening situations. The nationwide program was launched in response to the Sandy Hook massacre, aiming to empower bystanders to take action before first responders arrive. Participants learned three critical techniques: applying pressure, packing a wound, and using a tourniquet to control or, better, stop the bleeding until help arrives. The training, however, isn't just for those interested in emergency medicine like Swift; it's to help with unexpected situations like car accidents, workplace injuries and farming accidents. All everyday situations where knowing how to stop severe bleeding could save a life. 'The key takeaway is that these are everyday emergencies that happen right. Car accidents, workplace injuries from machinery, farming accidents, and certain things you might need to know to stop life-threatening bleeding,' said Anthony Scailse, the course coordinator. Upstate offers the Stop the Bleed course for free. Once completed, participants are certified and can even instruct others. For more information on upcoming classes, click here to sign up. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
HALT Act sponsor defends bill as state Republicans try for second repeal attempt
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The HALT Solitary Confinement Act has become a controversial bill, playing a part in the correctional officer strike that lasted for three weeks in New York State. Snow tapers, milder weather on the way HALT Act sponsor defends bill as state Republicans try for second repeal attempt The Atlantic posts more texts from Signal chat group CNY homeschooled teen takes courses to save lives with Upstate trauma's team Preble's cemetery takes a huge hit and seeks the community's help After working as a correction officer for 27 years, Stephen Woodward retired once the HALT Act was signed. 'They could come out, punch an officer in the face, break their eye socket, get 15 days in a special housing unit or rehabilitation unit, come right out and do it over again,' Woodward said. State Senator Julia Salazar, the bill's sponsor, says otherwise. 'It is not accurate when people claim that there aren't consequences for serious offenses. People can be held in RRU for up to a year,' she said. 'They are still subject to discipline. They are still separated from the general population. They can still have privileges taken away from them.' Salazar says HALT prohibits people with disabilities and mental health issues from solitary confinement and requires out-of-cell time for those in segregated confinement. Over the last four years, she has visited prisons and correctional facilities across the state and says HALT isn't being enacted. 'People with serious mental health conditions are continuing to be placed in the special housing units, and we also saw instances of people being held for over 15 days at a time, without being moved to a rehabilitative unit,' Salazar said. State Senator Daniel Stec has seven prisons in his district. For the second time, he's introducing a bill to repeal HALT. 'We're going to give them another opportunity to get it right. To realize that people who debated against this bill a few years ago and said it was a bad idea and make us less safe,' he said. 'Now, we have data that proves we are right. There's an opportunity to do the right thing.' Despite Salazar's claims, Stec says the HALT Act has rewarded inmates for bad behavior. 'I want to know what Julia Salazar and some of my colleagues would say to the spouse of someone that had their face caved in by a sock with something heavy in it. That happens, and they'll never see again,' he said. 'What is the deterrent inside prisons where if someone does something like that, the worst they'll get is a timeout for 15 days, where they'll have Wi-Fi and tablets.' According to DOCCS, assaults on corrections staff have gone up each year under the HALT Act. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislature will soon start "holistic review" of state prison system
Mar. 25—ALBANY — The state legislature will soon be undertaking a comprehensive review of the state prison system, coming after the high-profile killing of Robert Brooks by corrections officers at an Oneida County prison in December, and a weeks-long strike of COs that ended earlier this month with the firing of 2,000 prison security staff. On Tuesday, Speaker of the Assembly Carl E. Heastie, D-Bronx, said that legislators decided it was time to review the state prisons after Brooks' death. "When Mr. Brooks was murdered, one of the things we talked about was trying to get a very holistic review of the state correctional system," he said. But the legislature is waiting for the criminal investigation into Brooks' death, which has resulted in criminal charges for nearly a dozen state corrections staff involved in the case. At least 17 officers and Department of Corrections staff have been suspended without pay while the department does its own review. Heastie said the Legislature was waiting for the investigation to move forward before starting their own review. While the legislature is preparing to do its own review of DOCCS, there are big changes likely in the works for the department itself. Before the CO strikes started in February the department was running on a staffing deficit of about 2,000 officers. After the state put an end to negotiations to bring the roughly 8,000 striking staff back to work in mid-March, another 2,000 officers were fired; so the department is down about 4,000 COs. They're looking for new staff, relying on over 6,000 National Guard troops to fill in current gaps, and taking staff input on ways to change their recruiting practices. The department is also pulling together a committee of CO's union members, other prison staff and department representatives to propose changes to the HALT Act, a state law passed in 2022 that restricts punishments and requires broad rehabilitative programming schedules in state facilities. COs on strike took particular issue with that bill, arguing it's made their jobs severely dangerous and taken tools out of their belt for responding to bad behavior in prisons. But that committee would have no real power to change the law itself; it would need willing state legislators to carry forward any proposed changes as legislation. Heastie on Tuesday did not discount taking the committee's input. "I will never refuse to listen to people's opinions," he said. Besides the legislature's plan to review DOCCS, the Correctional Association of New York, a Brooklyn-based citizens oversight group empowered by century-old state law to watch the state's prisons, is also carrying forward with oversight and review work of its own, which CEO Jennifer Scaife told the Watertown Daily Times will include recommendations for the DOCCS HALT committee.
