Policy
DOCCS commissioner: Prison strike is over
Most of the corrections officers who took part in the unsanctioned strike have returned to work, and those who continued to strike have been fired.
Striking corrections officers and sergeants picket outside the Ulster and Eastern Correctional Facilities on Feb. 28, 2025. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
It has taken over three weeks, but state officials announced on Monday that the strike by state prison guards around the state has finally come to an end. “The strike is over,” said Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III. “After 22 days of an illegal strike, the governor and I are happy to report that it has now ended.”
According to Martuscello, state prisons now have 10,000 corrections officers working at them. More than 5,000 striking corrections officers and sergeants have returned, including roughly 1,200 who returned on Monday. Martuscello said that the state fired about 2,000 guards who had remained on strike as of Monday morning.
Prison guards began engaging in a wildcat strike unsanctioned by their union last month. In that time, the state put forward four agreements in hopes of ending the work stoppage, Martuscello said. That included an initial consent award between the state and the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association on Feb. 27, a memorandum of agreement with striking guards on March 6 that the union was not a party to and a final memorandum of agreement on March 8 that NYSCOPBA signed onto. That most recent agreement would only kick in if 85% of staff returned by Monday morning.
Martuscello said that threshold was not met on Monday, but he was still “committed to providing some of the critical changes and benefits to my employees.” Rather than adhering to the March 8 agreement, Martuscello said he and Gov. Kathy Hochul would instead honor the March 6 agreement that bypassed the union. That agreement includes a 90-day continuation of the suspension of programming aspects of the HALT Solitary Confinement law, 2.5 times overtime pay starting March 6 for strike-related staff, ongoing discussions to introduce new screening methods for contraband and no penalties under the union’s collective bargaining agreement. Penalties for violating the Taylor Law will remain in place, however. And the more than 6,000 National Guard members whom Hochul activated to fill in for striking guards will remain in place for the time being in a support role.
NYSCOPBA did not have a statement to offer on Monday immediately after Martuscello’s announcement.
The Monday announcement by Martuscello seemingly brings to a close weeks of turbulence and tension in the state’s prison system. Hundreds of striking corrections officers descended on Albany last week to rally against unsafe conditions and long hours and to call for a full repeal of the HALT Solitary Confinement law, which restricts the use of solitary confinement in prisons. While the state has not agreed to the repeal, it has suspended parts of the law and agreed to form a committee to recommend changes to the law. Criminal justice advocates criticized the continued suspension of parts of the law, which every public agreement included, and demanded that the HALT law remain completely intact. Meanwhile, the state Legislature has rejected attempts to repeal the law. Fights over the measure will surely continue to play out in the coming months.
The continued presence of National Guard members in prisons also presents its own unique issues, including ongoing costs to the state and the deployment of people who have not received training to serve as prison guards.
State Senate Republicans on Monday sent a letter to President Donald Trump calling for him to federalize the National Guard members deployed in state prisons. This would shift the cost of the deployment from the state to the federal government and would entitle the National Guard members to the same benefits and legal protections as active duty soldiers, including health care and access to Veterans Affairs care if they are injured on the job. “We need to be there for them to make sure that they get not only the necessary benefits, but the necessary medical care for them and their families, so that they can continue to do their job,” said state Sen. Jake Ashby. “What a horrible precedent to be set if they should not receive this.”