'TICKING TIME BOMB ABOUT TO GO OFF': NEW YORK'S STRIKING PRISON GUARDS VOW DEFIANCE AS STRIKE ENTERS 18TH DAY
'THESE MEN AND WOMAN ARE SERIOUS. THEY'RE NOT GOING BACK TO WORK. THEY'LL FIND NEW JOBS IF THEY HAVE TO.'
Mar. 6, 2025
New York State's striking prison guards doubled-down on their defiance Thursday morning by vowing to fight until lawmakers in Albany yield to their demand to repeal the HALT Act.
"We got demands and we're not going anywhere until the commissioner agrees to our terms," a man standing on a snowbank shouted at the 175 or so strikers gathered in a parking lot across the street from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility Thursday morning.
"Does everybody agree we're going to hold the line?," the man asked
The crowd punched their fists toward the grey winter sky and roared approval. Fires burning in about 10 barrels warmed the strikers in the frigid morning cold of an Adirondack winter.
“These man and women are serious," one striker said after the vote. "They're not going back to work. They’ll find new jobs if they have to.”
The man said he was a member of the prison SWAT team, called CERT, with three-decades of experience.
"This is a ticking time bomb," the veteran added, gesturing toward the fortress-like walls of the prison behind him. "And it's about to go off."
It is the 18th day of the guards' record-setting strike. The demands they approved are:
1. Repeal HALT completely
2. All visits are no-contact
3. No more paper mail for anyone, including legal mail
4. No more package room, just commissary
5. No discipline toward any officer
6. Volunteer overtime is now double-time. Stick overtime is triple time
ANYTHING LESS, and all this was for nothing!
Striking New York State prison guards across from the entrance to the Clinton Correctional Facility Thursday morning. One is holding up a sign with photographs of injured guards assaulted by prisoners.
Strikers’ first demand today is the same it was on the first day of the strike: repeal of the HALT Act.
The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act was passed by the state legislature and signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021. The HALT Act places a 15-day limit on the amount of time prisoners can be placed in solitary confinement for misconduct. After that, they can be segregated from the general population but must be given rehabilitative programming and allowed 4-6 hours outside of a cell everyday.
Strikers’ said it emboldened prisoners to prey on other prisoners and attack guards. Prisioners and their advocates said solitary was tantamount to torture. The HALT Act was needed to make sure New York’s prisons didn’t create monsters: that people didn’t come out worse than when they went in.
The illegal, wildcat strike started on Feb. 17. It traces to a mess hall brawl which sent six officers to the hospital in 2023. Guards blame it on the HALT Act.
Striking guards at about 29 other prisons were also voting Thursday morning whether to continue the strike based on the same demands. Most are expected to stay striking.
At its height, more than 9,000 of the state’s roughly 10,500 active Correction Officers and sergeants were on strike at 38 of the state’s 42 prisons, according to the state agency that manages them, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS.
While about 1,000 striking officers went back in response to a “deal” offered to them Thursday night that they had to accept by returning to work on Saturday, DOCCS said on Monday that about “8,000 correction officers and/or sergeants have failed to return to work.” The strike is continuing “in the overwhelming majority of DOCCS' facilities,” which court filings suggest is 29.
To replace the striking guards, Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed more than 6,500 National Guard soldiers. Some were sleeping in cells. One said it was “Worse than Afghanistan."
So far, according to officials' calculations, the bill for the 18-day old strike is about $50 million, DOCCS says. If it lasts a month, it ballons to $106,183,947.
At least seven prisoners prisoners have died since the strike began.
One of them, Messiah Nantwi, was allegedly beaten by guards at the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Mid-State is across the road from the Marcy Correctional Facility, where Robert Brooks was allegedly murdered by guards on Dec. 9, 2025.
Daniel F. Martuscello III, DOCCS’ commissioner, admitted the situation inside New York’s prisons is “volatile.”
In addition to the National Guard, DOCCS was pressing parole officers, civilian employees, front-of-jail administrative staff and even its own internal affairs investigators into service just to feed and medicate prisoners.
“This is a state of emergency,” Martuscello declared, “and a situation that is dire for the remaining staff, the incarcerated population and the community.”
Strikers’ protest sign outside Clinton on Thursday.
The guards' rebellion continues despite a court order issued by a state supreme court justice in Buffalo to return to work.
State Attorney General Letitia James Doxxed 25 alleged stikers last week in an increasingly nasty legal fight. On Monday, James’ office asked the court to jail and fine 145 officers from 29 prisons "for disobedience and/or resistance wilfully offered to the lawful mandate of the New York State Supreme Court."
All 145 officers have been ordered to appear in court in Buffalo at 11:00 AM on Mar. 11.
Meanwhile in Albany, the chair of the committee through which any legislation to repeal the HALT Act would have to pass, declared her determination to resist any amendments to the law.
"Our response should never be to repeal the HALT solitary confinement act," Sen. Julia Salazar said at a news conference on Wednesday. "That doesn't make any sense."
"In these moments we need to do the opposite," Salazar said. "We need to make sure HALT is fully implemented."
The union representing New York’s prison guards, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, also held a news conference in Albany on Wednesday.
NYSCOPBA spokesperson James Miller said the strike was "a culmination of frustration that has built among members since the HALT Act began in April of 2022."
"As a result of HALT, violence steadily climbed to reach epidemic levels that exist today," Miller added.
"We have communicated to the governor's office on a number of occasions," Miller said, "and relayed to them that officers were at a breaking point and crying out for help."
This is a breaking news report. Check back for updates throughout the day.
Send tips or corrections to jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me