SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Corrections officers in New York state prisons are protesting conditions they say are unfair and unsafe. And a strike that began Monday at a few prisons is now affecting most of them. Inmates say they feel unsafe and abandoned. Also been other developments this week, including charges against a group of corrections officers in the fatal beating of an inmate. North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell joins us. Emily, thanks for being with us.
EMILY RUSSELL, BYLINE: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: And what has prompted the prison strikes in New York this week?
RUSSELL: Well, corrections officers say they're overworked. They're understaffed, and they say they face dangerous conditions on the job. The strike started at a few prisons Monday morning and has spread to 38 of the state's 42 prisons. I should note, it's actually illegal for New York state employees to go on strike, but that hasn't stopped this one. Corrections officers are making a number of demands. A key one is to repeal the HALT Act, which limits their use of solitary confinement. We talked to a retired corrections officer, Gregory King, at the strike outside the prison in Dannemora this week.
GREGORY KING: Inmates now don't have any repercussions for their actions. The flow of fentanyl and other drugs within the facility is out of control. So it's becoming unsafe for everybody that's working in there.
RUSSELL: Governor Kathy Hochul has deployed 3,500 New York National Guard troops to help secure prisons during the strikes.
SIMON: I gather tensions also on the rise of two prisons in Northern New York this week. What happened there?
RUSSELL: Well, part of the issue with these officers striking has been that the ones working inside these prisons don't have many people to relieve them. Now, it's a little unclear what exactly happened at these prisons. But in Ogdensburg, we know that there were officers who were on duty who, quote, "vacated their posts" Wednesday night and left inmates unsupervised for hours. That's according to the state's Department of Corrections. A similar thing happened at one of the prisons in Malone on Thursday.
SIMON: What are you able to hear from inmates and groups that speak for them?
RUSSELL: Well, they say inmates are the ones suffering because of the strikes. The state has canceled visits at all prisons. Advocates say that adds a layer of isolation on top of the push to allow officers more leeway with solitary confinement. I talked to Thomas Gant. He served 25 years behind bars and now works for the Center for Community Alternatives. That's an advocacy group based in New York City.
THOMAS GANT: The answer isn't to continue to lock people away and confine them. The answer is to give programs, to give skills - not just teaching a person how to mop and sweep a floor but give them more contemporary skills.
RUSSELL: Gant and a number of other advocates think that prison strikes are an attempt to distract from something else that happened this week, the arrest of officers charged with fatally beating an inmate back in December.
SIMON: And, Emily, please remind us about that incident and how it might figure into this week's arrests.
RUSSELL: Yeah. So back in December, several corrections officers at a prison near Utica, New York, fatally beat an inmate. His name was Robert Brooks. Body camera footage shows Brooks in handcuffs as officers punch and kick and choke him. His death was ruled a homicide. And on Thursday, six officers were charged with murder. Three others were charged with manslaughter for not intervening. Every officer arraigned this week has pleaded not guilty.
SIMON: And how has the governor of New York responded to all this?
RUSSELL: Well, in the case of Robert Brooks, Governor Hochul said in a statement that corrections officers had been, quote, "rightfully charged with murder." As for the strikes, the state has tried to meet some of the demands. It has temporarily suspended parts of the HALT Act, so giving officers more flexibility to use solitary confinement. And mediation talks are set to begin on Monday between state officials and the union that represents corrections officers.
You know, all of this has happened the same week the governor is dealing with a few other big issues - one being New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Justice Department's involvement in his corruption case. And then President Donald Trump moved to reverse the city's congestion pricing plan. So it's been a chaotic week in New York, to say the least.
SIMON: North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell. Emily, thanks so much for being with us.
RUSSELL: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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