Latest news with #HumaneAlternativestoLong-TermSolitaryConfinement
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Several former NYS correction officers sue state, DOCCS claiming wrongful termination
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Several former New York State correction officers are suing the state and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to get their jobs back. DOCCS started firing employees in March after the multi-week strike took place at facilities statewide, with correction officers asking for safer working conditions, limits to overtime, and a reversal of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act. DOCCS says strike is over, more than 2K fired According to a complaint filed on Friday, over a dozen former correction officers are suing the state, claiming they were wrongfully terminated while they were off the job under the Family Medical Leave Act. The suit calls for monetary damages and the reinstatement of employment and health benefits. DOCCS said it does not comment on pending litigation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
2,000 Striking N.Y. Prison Officers Fired and Barred From Public Jobs
More than 2,000 state prison officers who failed to return to work after three weeks of wildcat strikes have been fired and will be barred from future law enforcement and other civil service jobs in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday. The affected officers, unlike 5,000 of their striking colleagues, spurned a Monday deadline set by their union and state officials as part of an agreement to end an illegal labor action that spread to nearly all of New York's prisons. The deal to end the strikes was contingent on 85 percent of officers' returning to the job by Monday morning. Although not enough strikers went back to meet that threshold, Ms. Hochul declared the strike over and said the state would fulfill its obligations under the agreement. 'Today, we can finally say this work stoppage is over and move forward towards making our prisons safer for all, supporting our correctional staff and recruiting the correction officers of the future,' the governor said in a statement. Ms. Hochul signed an executive order on Tuesday prohibiting officers who did not meet the deadline from future state employment and local law enforcement jobs. It made good on a threat to punish those who stayed out of work in defiance of a state civil service law that prohibits most public employees from striking. In the order, the governor justified her action by citing a provision of the civil service law that 'authorizes the disqualification of applicants for civil service employment who have previously been dismissed from public service for misconduct.' A spokesman for the officers' union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, declined to comment on the strikes' end, the deal that prompted it or Ms. Hochul's punishment of the holdouts. The union did not authorize the strikes. With the strikes over, about 10,000 officers were available to work at the state's 42 correctional facilities on Tuesday, officials said, compared with about 13,500 before the work stoppage began at two prisons in mid-February. About 6,000 National Guard troops that Ms. Hochul deployed to maintain order in the system amid the strikes will remain in prisons in a support role for an unspecified period, officials said. Striking officers said they had been driven to walk out by severe staff shortages, excessive forced overtime and dangerous working conditions. A state law limiting the use of solitary confinement was particularly contentious. Officers said it created hazards for them and incarcerated people alike by preventing violent inmates from being properly isolated. As part of the agreement to end the strikes, corrections officials said that some provisions of the law, the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement, or HALT, Act, would be suspended for 90 days and re-evaluated. In a statement, the Legal Aid Society criticized the 'vague terms' of the agreement to pause provisions of the HALT Act, saying it raised the prospect of 'a boundless and illegal circumvention of critical legal protections for incarcerated New Yorkers.' The society threatened legal action to ensure 'clarity' about how the state was complying with the law. The strikes began around the time 10 corrections officers were criminally charged, six with murder, in the fatal beating of an inmate at the Marcy Correctional Facility in December. The assault, during which the man, Robert Brooks, was handcuffed and shackled, was captured by officers' body-worn cameras. At least nine prisoners died during the strikes. One death, of Messiah Nantwi, 22, is being investigated by a special prosecutor and resulted in 15 corrections department employees being placed on leave. Nine prisoners interviewed by The New York Times said he had died after being beaten by prison officers. Ms. Hochul, acknowledging that the investigation is continuing, has said 'early reports point to extremely disturbing conduct leading to Mr. Nantwi's death.'
CBS News
10-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
New York's prison strike poised to end Monday
New York state prison guards were expected to return to work Monday after reaching an agreement over the weekend with the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. The new agreement was to take effect if at least 85% of staff returned to work at 6:45 a.m. Monday. Among the conditions of the deal is the suspension of the so-called HALT (Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement) Act for 90 days and the establishment of a committee to find changes to it. Other conditions included changes to overtime were included in the deal. The Legal Aid Society took issue the deal. "Without a clear plan to swiftly restore essential services, resume legal and family visits, provide medical care neglected during the strike, and implement strong oversight to prevent retaliation by returning correctional staff, the people we serve in DOCCS facilities across the state will continue to face life-threatening harm," the Legal Aid Society said in a statement. "Compounding these concerns, DOCCS has doubled down on a purported 'suspension' of HALT, the vague terms of which threaten a boundless and illegal circumvention of critical legal protections for incarcerated New Yorkers. All incarcerated New Yorkers, their families, friends, and communities, deserve to know what DOCCS is doing to comply with HALT, and we are going to court to ensure they have that clarity." The strike, which is illegal under New York's Taylor Law prohibiting strikes by public employees, began on Feb. 17. Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of stiff repercussions for striking workers, including loss of health care, employment and possibly even prosecution. DOCCS says no penalties were waived as part of the agreement.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Yahoo
DOCCS: Agreement reached, correction officers to return Monday
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced Saturday night that an agreement had been reached with the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association for striking correction officers to return to work at 6:45 a.m. Monday. DOCCS released a 'Memorandum of Agreement,' which has been signed by DOCCS commissioner Daniel Martuscello and NYSCOPBA president Chris Summers. The agreement came on the 20th day of the wildcat strike, which had not been officially sanctioned by the union. It will go into effect if at least 85 percent of the state's correction officers return to work. Under the agreement, DOCCS will rescind probationary terminations that were issued to striking employees, as well as reinstate any employee who resigned. New York State will reinstate health insurance effective immediately to employees who had their health insurance terminated. DOCCS will also not pursue Taylor Law proceedings against officers who were on strike if they return to work on Monday. The strike began on Feb. 17 with correction officers seeking changes to working conditions. Those requests included limits to overtime and a reversal of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act. A mediator was brought in on Feb. 21, and a tentative deal had previously been reached on Feb. 27 — but several correction officers remained on strike following that tentative agreement. The agreement states that the HALT Act will remain suspended on a temporary basis, and that Martuscello will 'begin to evaluate the operations, safety, and security of our facilities relative to staffing levels and determine whether re-instituting the suspended elements of HALT would create an unreasonable risk to the safety and security of the incarcerated individuals and staff.' Both sides will continue to 'work towards eliminating anyone working 24-hour mandatory overtime.' Both sides also agreed to establish a committee to examine staffing across facilities, as well as potential 'operational inefficiencies with the goal of providing more relief to existing staff.' The National Guard will remain at facilities on a temporary basis, and National Guard members 'will be used to help prevent an employee from being mandated to work a 24-hour overtime shift.' The full Memorandum of Agreement can be viewed below. Memorandum-of-AgreementDownload *** Mark Ludwiczak joined the News 4 team in 2024. He is a veteran journalist with two decades of experience in Buffalo. You can follow him online at @marklud12. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New York's Illegal Prison Guard Strike Challenges Law Limiting the Use of Solitary Confinement
A prison guard strike across New York, which has sent many state-wide correctional facilities into chaos, may soon see some officers exchanging their positions of authority for a cell themselves if they are not able to cement a new agreement. Guards mobilized the strike, which began February 17, in response to working conditions they say are untenable. A deal reached last week sought to address those concerns: It limited mandatory 24-hour overtime shifts, which officers say had gotten out of control in response to staff shortages, and temporarily suspended a law that hamstrings the use of solitary confinement, particularly as it pertains to placing prisoners in isolation for long stretches of time. Last week's deal also pledged not to discipline officers who returned to work by the deadline, which passed on Saturday. Many declined to oblige, especially in upstate and western New York. "They are in violation of the law," Democratic Gov. Kathy Hocul said Tuesday, referring to New York's Taylor Law, passed in 1967, which permits public unionization and collective bargaining but curtails strikes by public employees. "They've created very unsafe circumstances. There are serious consequences. We have warned them day after day after day. A lot of warnings, that you could lose your health care, the health care is gone, people are going to be arrested, you could be going to jail. You've lost your job, you've lost your income, you've lost everything." As of Thursday, a handful of officers had been fired and thousands had lost health insurance. An amended agreement may see the strike come to an end this week, should officers accept this one. It would create a committee—made up of lawmakers, union leaders, and corrections officials—to analyze potential changes to the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act, which appears to be many guards' foremost gripe. Signed in 2021 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, it limits putting inmates in solitary for more than 15 consecutive days and bars its use entirely for pregnant women, people under the age of 22 or older than 54, and prisoners with certain disabilities. Officers have countered that the legislation paralyzes their ability to handle violent prisoners. At least seven inmates have died since the strike began. Thousands of soldiers with the National Guard were deployed to fill the void, although they have reportedly been ill-equipped to step into the role, absent the proper training and supplies. Inmates have been deprived of showers, visits, and basic medical attention without guards there to oversee their day-to-day needs. The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, the union for state prison guards, did not authorize the strike. But it's yet another reminder of the disarray that ensues from strikes put on by state employees, who hold monopolies on public goods. The post New York's Illegal Prison Guard Strike Challenges Law Limiting the Use of Solitary Confinement appeared first on
