TWO MORE PRISONERS DIE IN NEW YORK DURING STIKE BY PRISON GUARDS
ANTHONY DOUGLAS AND FRANKLYN DOMINGUEZ DIED AT SING SING ON WEDNESDAY
Two prisoners died at the maximum-security Sing Sing Correctional Facility on Wednesday, the 10th day of a strike by guards. Photo credit: JB Nicholas.
EXCLUSIVE
Feb. 27, 2025
Two more New York State prisoners have died as a wildcat strike by guards enters its 11th day.
Anthony Douglas and Franklyn Dominguez were found dead at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, both on Wednesday.
The state agency that manages the state prison system, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS, confirmed their deaths to The Free Lance on Thursday.
The causes of both deaths will be determined by the Westchester County Medical Examiner, DOCCS said.
That brings to three the number of prisoners who have died since the strike began at the Collins and Elmira Correctional Facilities on Feb. 14. Jonathan Grant, 61, a diabetic, was found dead last Saturday morning at the maximum-security Auburn Correctional Facility, The Free Lance reported.
9-out-of-10 guards at all but two of New York's 42 prisons are on strike. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard to replace strikers. Some were sleeping in cells.
"We have more than 6,500 National Guard members on duty for this mission that are actively being deployed to correctional facilities," Matt Janiszewski, Gov. Hochul's Upstate Press Secretary, told The Free Lance on Wednesday.
The strike is illegal under New York’s Taylor Law and state Attorney General Letitia James’s office won a court order directing the guards to return to work but so far they’ve ignored it. James Doxed 25 of the guards yesterday, The Free Lance exclusively reported.
Douglas, 67, “was found unresponsive in his cell” Wednesday afternoon, DOCCS‘ Director of Public Information, Thomas Mailey, said in an email. “Immediately staff began life saving measures including CPR, Narcan and AED. “
Local “EMTs took over care of Mr. Douglas until he was pronounced dead by a doctor from a local hospital” at around 4:25 PM, Mailey added.
Douglas was convicted of 21 charges in 1985, including rape and multiple counts of murder. He was serving 122 plus life.
A prisoner at Sing Sing said “He had been at the gate, talking—seemingly fine. The next thing anyone knew, he was found dead in his cell.”
Dominguez, 35, was also “found unresponsive in his cell” Wednesday evening, Mailey said.
“Immediately staff called an ambulance and began life saving measures including CPR, Narcan and AED,” Mailey explained. When the ambulance crew arrived, they took over care and transported him to a local hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 8:48 PM, Mailey said.
Dominquez was serving 0-to-six for three counts of second degree assault. He entered the state prison system in 2022.
Meanwhile in Albany, negotiations between the guards and the state to end the strike continue.
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