Gov. Hochul’s refusal to address limits to solitary confinement makes the prison strikes more explosive
Leave it to Gov. Kathy Hochul to bungle another crisis — this time, strikes by correction officers at some 30 state prisons.
Over the past week, officers have walked off the job, citing an upsurge in violence at their facilities sparked by understaffing, 24-hour shifts and limits on the use of solitary confinement.
The walkout has worsened already-unsafe conditions, prompting the gov to deploy National Guard troops to some prison. Yet both inmates and staff remain at risk of an explosion of violence.
So where’s Hochul been?
Under the state’s Taylor Law, correction officers have no legal right to strike, but so far she’s refused to enforce it (though the state did threaten to hold officers in contempt for violating a court order to return to work).
Yet she also won’t address a key gripe of the striking COs: New York’s 2021 Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, which restricts segregation of dangerous prisoners.
HALT lowered the number of hours per day an inmate can spend in a cell, requiring at least four outside it as opposed to just one. It also limits the number of consecutive days in solitary to 15 (no more than 20 in a 60-day period) and requires a hearing before confinement.
Finally, no one under 22 or over 54 can be “segregated.”
The result: The number of inmates in solitary plunged after HALT’s 2022 rollout: By Feb. 1, 2023, only 351 were in “special housing units,” vs. about 1,800 the prior year, per the Correctional Association of New York.
Meanwhile, assaults on prison staff have shot up 65%, from 1,177 in 2021 to 1,938 through November 2024.
Assaults on inmates more than doubled, from 1,108 to 2,697.
We get it: Doing time in solitary can be rough; bleeding-heart critics call it “torture.”
But prisoners can avoid such punishment just by . . . behaving. Indeed, a credible threat of confinement can be a vital deterrent.
More important, correction officers often have no other way of stopping violent outbursts except to separate out-of-control prisoners.
Which is why limiting those who qualify for solitary — and capping the time they can spend in it — inevitably leads to more chaos and injuries.
At least, unless the powers-that-be otherwise act to reduce the risks, say by spending the cash to cut the prisoner-to-CO ratio.
Ha! New York’s headed in the opposite direction: In 2023, the prisoner-to-security-staff ratio had risen to 2.2, up from 1.8 two years earlier.
Hence, too, the rise in 24-hour shifts and other consequences of understaffing.
Of course, the progressives who pushed the HALT Act couldn’t care less about the violence they’ve caused.
And a spineless Hochul has never shown a willingness to stand up to progs.
So expect the surge in prison chaos to remain high, even if correction officers return to their posts.
