New York prison officials agreed to a new set of concessions to meet the demands of corrections officers' wildcat strike, but the new deal came with a Friday deadline to return to work or face termination, disciplinary action or even criminal charges, the New York Times reports. Daniel F. Martuscello III, commissioner of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, said in a news conference Thursday night the state would place a 90-day pause on some provisions of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, known as HALT, which limits the use of solitary confinement for inmates. The department will also create a committee to study the law, which many corrections officers say has made their jobs more dangerous and difficult. Striking officers have also complained about staffing shortages and forced overtime, with some being required to work 24-hour shifts. The shifts of workers who return to duty on Friday will be limited to 12 hours, Martuscello said. When all workers are back in place and the prisons return to normal operations, he said, workers will not be forced to work shifts longer than eight hours.
Dozens of corrections officers and sergeants have already been fired for participating in the illegal strikes, Jackie Bray, commissioner of the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, said Thursday evening. Striking corrections officers and sergeants who already quit, who were fired, or who face contempt charges or other disciplinary actions will have their records swept clean and their jobs reinstated, but only if they accept the terms offered Thursday night. The deal offered Thursday did not include the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents prison guards. The schism between the union’s leaders and members dates at least to Feb. 17, when corrections officers at two prisons declared a strike that was not authorized by their union. After the work action spread to nearly all the state’s prisons, the union negotiated an agreement with the corrections department that would have ended the strikes on March 1. Most officers ignored the agreement and continued to strike. In response, Martuscello said, he spent much of the last week traveling the state, speaking with strikers over the phone. He also ordered his deputies to go the picket lines and speak with workers directly. Those conversations informed the compromise offer, which Martuscello announced on Thursday.
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