Assemblymember Chris Tague stands with picketers on Route 9W in Coxsackie Monday morning. This was the second time Tague joined the striking employees.
Assemblymember Chris Tague at the Route 9W picket line Monday morning. Tague called for the repeal of the HALT Act and for increased safety measures for corrections officers.
Assemblymember Chris Tague stands with picketers on Route 9W in Coxsackie Monday morning. This was the second time Tague joined the striking employees.
Courtesy of Assemblymember Chris Tague
Assemblymember Chris Tague at the Route 9W picket line Monday morning. Tague called for the repeal of the HALT Act and for increased safety measures for corrections officers.
COXSACKIE — State Assemblyman Chris Tague, R-102, joined corrections officers on the picket line outside of Greene and Coxsackie correctional facilities Monday to show solidarity.
“When I heard that the governor’s response to these demonstrations was to expedite the closure of correctional facilities, my blood boiled with anger,” Tague said in a statement Monday. “She’s wrong to respond to these demonstrations with more punishment since this state government was punishing these people with less security on the job and fewer resources long before she became our executive. The correctional problem should not be solved with a slam against the people on the front lines, it should be a helping hand to manage their work. That’s all these people are asking for.”
Corrections officers across the state have been on strike since Feb. 17 over what they claim are unsafe working conditions and staffing shortages, which they said make the job more dangerous. The wildcat strikes have been called illegal by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Daniel Martuscello, commissioner of the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision [DOCCS].
DOCCS said that employees who were not back at their post by midnight Feb. 20 could face punishment, according to DOCCS.
In a statement from DOCCS spokesperson Thomas Mailey, striking employees risk losing their health insurance and will be docked pay.
“COs [corrections officers] continuing to take part in this illegal job action are violating the law," according to Mailey's statement. "They will be considered absent without leave and are being docked pay for every day on strike. Also, as a result of their status, the state will terminate their state-sponsored health insurance. In addition, those participating in the illegal job action will face administrative penalties, along with department discipline for violating the state’s Taylor Law and a judge’s temporary restraining order.”
The Taylor Law, which was passed in 1967, grants public employees the right to unionize, employers to negotiate with organizations, and allows for collective bargaining disputes.
“Shame on them [for the proposed punishments] if they can’t see past threatening negotiation tactics,” Tague said. “Enough is enough. The governor can change this with a stroke of her pen...instead, she’s doing nothing.”
Monday was the second day Tague was on the picket line at Route 9W in Coxsackie. He was also on the line Feb. 19.
“Just there to support them through the crisis that the governor created," Tague said Monday. "Many of us in Albany support them and want the HALT Act repealed. We want the safety of prisoners and corrections officers protected and to feel safe and secure."
Assemblyman Scott Bendett, R-107, also suggested the HALT Act needs to be repealed.
“For too long, our state’s correctional officers have been abandoned by Albany’s radical policies,” Bendett said in a statement Monday. “The HALT Act has turned our prisons into war zones, emboldening violent inmates while stripping officers of the tools they need to maintain control. We are witnessing an unprecedented staffing crisis and a dangerous surge in assaults on those who put their lives on the line to protect our communities.”
Tague was joined by Greene County Sheriff Peter Kusminsky and Assemblyman Joe Angelino, R-121.
“The strikes are unfortunate and I know that corrections officers have some legitimate concerns about their work conditions, their safety and their ability to maintain safe facilities,” Kusminsky said on Monday. “I don’t believe that anyone working more than 16 hours straight would be alert enough to be able to respond to and deal with an emergency. This, along with the HALT Act, which limits their ability to hold bad actors accountable, make for a very unstable work environment.”
The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act, which was passed in 2022, limits situations where incarcerated individuals can be placed into solitary confinement. It prevents anyone over the age of 55 or under the age of 21, pregnant or disabled people, from being placed into solitary confinement. The law also limits the amount of time someone can be placed into confinement to three days. Under certain circumstances individuals could be placed in confinement for up to 60 days.
“This is a crisis that the governor and far left-wing Democrats manufactured this crisis and they don't know how to deal with it," Tague said. "We told them this would happen when they tried to pass this law. They made stupid decisions."
In a statement Thursday, Martuscello said certain provisions of the act would be repealed, but he did not specify which ones. In addition, he said he would repeal the 70/30 memorandum he issued Feb. 10 that stated facilities at 70% staffing would be considered the new 100%.
Tague echoed Kumisnsky’s points that no employee can be expected to be alert after going without sleep for 16 hours.
“People go to work an eight-hour shift and then are told it’s a 16-hour shift then it goes to 24-hour shift," Tague said. "I don't know about you, but most people don't perform well on no sleep."
Hochul deployed the National Guard across the state to facilities that had striking employees, including Greene and Coxsackie Correctional facilities. On Friday, strikers coordinated bringing in food for themselves, as well as the National Guard deployed at the facilities.
State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-41, put out a joint statement Sunday with other legislators with prisons in their districts calling corrections officers' workplace conditions unsafe.
“These poor and unsafe workplace conditions are born out of years-long, if not decades-long, neglect by state government, including DOCCS,” according to Sunday's statement. “The profession requires far more than an inadequate $6,500 starting salary increase, if we are to pull corrections back from the brink.”
