New York Dishes Strong Punishment Against Striking Prison Guards

Now that the historic three-week New York State Correctional Officer strike has ended, the Empire State's 42 prisons are working to get back to normal. Considering things have not been as expected for a while, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and the Corrections Officers Union, New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association are trying to figure out the new normal to move forward to keep New Yorkers safe.

While the state and COs agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding that set the terms for the guards to return to work, which included several concessions by the state, some officers still refused to return to work. As a result, the state fired more than 2,000 correctional officers for not abiding by the agreement their own union worked to negotiate.

Now, the state and Governor Kathy Hochul have issued a new set of punishments against the Correction Officers who broke the law and walked off the job to participate in an illegal strike that put the people of New York in danger.

New York Dishes Strong Punishment Against Striking Prison Guards

In a move praised by some and demonized as cruel by others, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order that has effectively barred anyone who participated in the illegal strike from working for the government in the Empire State ever again.

No New York State agency shall hire or appoint any individual who was previously employed by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and thereafter separated from such employment in connection with such individual’s participation in the illegal and unlawful strike. This prohibition applies to all appointments in the classified service of the State, as well as any hires in the unclassified service where Civil Service Law provisions apply...
-Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York

In the Executive Order, the Governor argues that the Correctional Officers who acted illegally erode the public trust and violated their oath to the people. A sentiment many people in the state have expressed, and that those who participated in the illegal strike showed a disregard for the law and no longer deserve to work for the people of the state.

Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images

What do you think: should the fired officers be allowed to work for the State again, or is this penalty just right?

These 7 Prisons Are The Most Violent In New York State

New York released a report with the most recent number of violent assaults on inmates in state prisons. There were 134 inmate deaths noted in the report, although it doesn't break down the prisons where each death occurred or who caused them. Here's a look at some of the general violent incidents reported for 2020, which is the most recent data reported by the state. Compared to 10 years ago, inmate assaults have almost doubled. In 2011 there were 666 and in 2020 there were 1,205 reported. These numbers do not include inmate assaults on staff members. Overall, the number of unusual incidents includes things like assaults, deaths, accidents, sexual misconduct, and disruptive behavior. According to the state,

"The number of unusual incidents has increased 132% from 5,980 in 2011 to 13,870 in 2020. These higher incident numbers were largely due to increases in assaults on incarcerated individuals (+81%), assaults on staff (+86%), contraband (+130%), disruptive behavior (+372%), and staff use of weapons (+1,035%)."

In 2020, 1,836 weapons used to cut or stab, including ice picks, razor blades, can lids and shanks were discovered in state prisons around New York.

Gallery Credit: Yasmin Young