As New York State correctional officers return to work following the official end of the wildcat strike, more than 6,000 New York Army National Guard soldiers and airmen remain in state prisons on an involuntary order to maintain operations.
Reports of challenging work conditions for guardsmen in the prisons spread shortly after they were called up on Feb. 17, 2025, to serve as a backfill for thousands of striking correctional officers. The officers illegally walked off the job largely in protest of the HALT Act, a New York state law limiting the use of solitary confinement to a maximum of 17 days, which the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association said created an unsafe working environment.
Guardsmen soon learned firsthand how difficult the working environment in the prisons could be.
“It was 12 hours on, 12 hours off, nonstop for two weeks,” said one guardsman assigned to Coxsackie Greene County Correctional Facility. According to the guardsman, who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity, they were not allowed to exit the facility for the initial two weeks of their tour. They slept in prison cell blocks and used the prisoners’ metal toilets and freezing cold showers.
“We ate prison food until so many people got food poisoning that we had to get a vendor that was no better to cater to us,” he said. Their 12-hour shifts were bookended by debriefs and summaries, allowing them only 10 hours off to eat, sleep and clean the prison units. The guardsman described his experience at the prison over the last three weeks as “really awful mentally and physically.”
“When soldiers and airmen first reported for duty, they were living in the prisons in austere conditions,” acknowledged Eric Durr, director of public affairs for the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs (DMNA).
But, according to Durr, the DMNA has since attempted to improve the situation for National Guard personnel, including moving them into outside lodging when possible, instituting respite breaks to allow leave from their assigned facilities to visit their families, and providing improved internet access, snacks and bottled water.
The soldiers on duty have received a special duty pay allowance of $2,000 per pay period, which will now be reduced to $1,000 per pay period as the National Guard transitions to a long-term mission. There is currently no official date for when they will switch from an involuntary state active duty to a voluntary force. The 106th Regional Training Institute has launched week-long training sessions for long-term volunteers to handle the challenges of the mission.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared the strike over on Monday, March 10, 2025, following the implementation of an agreement between the state and the Benevolent Association. New York agreed to suspend the rules of the HALT Act for 90 days, with a pledge to form a committee that would recommend ways for the legislature to amend the act within the next 60 days.
The agreement originally required 85% of striking workers to return to their posts by Monday morning, but Daniel Martuscello III, commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, chose to implement the terms of the agreement when 75% of the officers returned to work. The state now has 10,000 available personnel, a reduction from the 13,500 prior to the strike.
The returning correctional officers have had their jobs and health insurance returned but may still face penalties for violating the Taylor Law, which prohibits public officials from striking. Hochul terminated 2,000 workers who refused to return to work on Monday and blacklisted them from future state employment.
