Ortt says strike result of ‘failed leadership’ by governor, Democrats in Legislature

Hawley says COs strike in response to dangerous working conditions

File photo by Tom Rivers: Albion Correctional Facility looms large at the end of Washington Street in Albion. The site is the largest women’s prison in the state.

State Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt said he supports corrections officers in their demands for an end to HALT Act and increased staffing in prisons.

Corrections officers are on strike at many prisons today in the state, saying they are on the verge of leaving the profession due to mandatory overtime and dangerous conditions from the HALT Act, which puts limits on solitary confinement. Without solitary confinement, COs say incarcerated people can be violent and break prison rules without fear of punishment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is preparing to send in the National Guard to help staff prisons if the strike doesn’t end by Wednesday.

“Sending the National Guard into our subways to do the job of the NYPD, and prisons to do the job of our correction officers is not the best use of these brave New Yorkers and is the result of the failed leadership of Governor Hochul and Senate and Assembly Democrats,” Ortt said in a statement this afternoon.

“The Governor should be focused on getting our correction officers back in prisons by ending HALT, and a commitment to increasing staffing,” he said. “Deploying our National Guard makes this situation even more dangerous. As a former member of the New York National Guard, I have the highest regard for these soldiers. However this is not what they are trained for.”

Ortt said the Senate Republican Conference has been vocal about the dangerous working conditions in the state’s prisons.

“The HALT Act and other reckless Democrat policies have empowered violent inmates, stripped officers of necessary tools to maintain order, and created an untenable crisis in our correctional facilities,” Ortt said.

He called on Hochul and the Legislature to reverse HALT which he said has resulted in “skyrocketing assaults” on staff.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley of Batavia faulted the Hochul administration for a failure to provide a safe working environment for correctional officers across the state.

In recent years, Hawley said correctional officers have faced unprecedented violence from inmates. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision reported a record 1,760 assaults on prison staff last year, Hawley said.

“It should be completely clear now to this administration that our correctional officers have had enough,” Hawley said. “Gov. Hochul seems to be hellbent on stripping prison staff of vital protections while putting the concerns of criminals first. Policies like the HALT Act have taken control away from our correctional officers and given the power to inmates.

“Demonstrations like this should not come as a surprise to Gov. Hochul and her friends in the Majority,” Hawley said. “These are the kinds of drastic measures that happen when you push these law enforcement officers to their limits. I will continue to fight in Albany to make sure our correctional officers’ voices are heard and these radical reforms are reversed.”