Chaos And Disruption At New York State Prisons

A strike is spreading among corrections officers at prisons in New York State. The unsanctioned strike is spreading to prisons around the state.

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An unauthorized strike at two prisons in New York State has spread. The first strike was initiated by corrections officers at Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County and Elmira Correctional Facility in Chemung County. By the afternoon of Monday, February 17, 2025, officers at other prisons around the state joined in. Sources told The Times Union that on Monday afternoon another strike started at Groveland Correctional Facility in Livingston County.

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The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is charged with the "care, custody, and treatment of individuals sentenced to state prison." However, an incarcerated individual, Robert Brooks, was violently beaten by corrections officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York. The assault they inflicted on him was beyond disgusting. Brooks died on December 10, 2024. It's hard not to imagine how much of this behavior goes unrecorded in New York prisons. According to the New York Times,

"Three of the 13 guards implicated in the savage beating of Robert Brooks had been accused in lawsuits of earlier attacks in New York prisons."

Those incidents left one of the victims disfigured and another in a wheelchair. Apparently, those assaults were not severe enough for the corrections officers to be fired. So, there is some irony in corrections officers striking to complain about safety.

New York State Prisons Involved

Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County

Elmira Correctional Facility in Chemung County

Groveland Correctional Facility in Livingston County

Upstate Correctional Facility in Franklin County

Auburn Correctional Facility in Cayuga County

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There were also reports of protests at Upstate Correctional Facility in Franklin County and Clinton Correctional Facility in Clinton County. There are strikes or protests planned at the Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, the Albion Correctional Facility in Orleans County, and the Auburn Correctional Facility in Cayuga County.

Credit: MyNBC5-WPTZ via Youtube

The officers claim that they are protesting unsafe working conditions. The strikes were not sanctioned by the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association. Strikes by public employees in New York are prohibited by Taylor's Law. Kenny Gold, a regional vice president for the union, said quote,

“We don’t condone this. This isn’t a union-sanctioned thing. We’re at these places to tell the members to go back to work, and they’re not listening. … They’re upset. They’re worried about working conditions, and they want to see their family and (they said) that nobody’s listening to them.”

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