A group of corrections officers from the state-run Adirondack Correctional prison in Ray Brook strike outside the facility on Tuesday in the cold. The striking workers did not want their faces photographed, for fear of retribution. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

RAY BROOK — A large portion of the corrections officers at the Adirondack Correctional state prison in Ray Brook went on strike Tuesday morning outside the prison in the frigid weather, demanding better work hours, higher pay and increased safety for staff.

They are joining COs from around two dozen prisons across the state who are walking off the job amid several crises in the field — including a suspected unknown substance exposure at Upstate Correctional in Malone which resulted in several staff being hospitalized, and a multi-day stand-off at Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County where several inmates barricaded themselves inside three dorms.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has labeled these strikes illegal, saying the work stoppages jeopardize the safety of their coworkers. The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association union, which they are members of, has not sanctioned these strikes.

On Tuesday, a line of pickup trucks stretched down Ray Brook Road leading to the medium security prison. At the end of the it, a crowd of around 30 corrections officers stood around burn barrel fires, drinking coffee, eating pizza and trying to keep warm in the single-digit cold. They had been out there since 6 a.m. that morning.

None of the striking COs wanted to speak to the paper on the record with their names. The Enterprise was able to speak with several of them on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution. They also did not want their faces in photos taken.

Officers estimated that 40-50% of the workforce at Adirondack Correctional is on strike. They said everyone’s tired of the working conditions.

They said each state prison has different problems — here, it’s not so much the fentanyl that other prisons are concerned about. It’s the staffing level and fights.

The officers say state laws have created a lack of disciplinary action for inmates who commit crimes in jail, and that low pay and staffing levels lead to lots of mandatory overtime for staff.

They have a list of demands that are similar to those across these separate CO strikes.

The state says several of the workers’ demands would require changing state law — a difficult process — or violating their own collective bargaining agreement through NYSCOPBA. It also says it is making steps to address some of the concerns already.

The officers said they’re in this strike for the long-haul.

“As long as it takes,” one said.

“Until we get results,” another added.

Inside the facility, they believe the other COs are being told to work even longer shifts and maybe sleep at the facility instead of going home. They said it was not an easy decision to go on strike. But they believe it’s the right thing for all of their families. Hochul says she’s preparing to mobilize the New York National Guard to fill in at prisons if the strikes do not end by today.

COs said local administrators are not the problem. They say it’s Albany.

One of their demands is the resignation or removal of DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III. One of the signs at the protest spells his name as “Mart-ASellOut.”

State Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, echoed his call for Martuscello’s resignation, sending Gov. Kathy Hochul a letter requesting such on Tuesday.

“It’s clear that Commissioner Martuscello is incapable of responding to these very real safety concerns and has lost the trust of our correction officers,” Stec said in a statement.

Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, a former corrections officer, said he is pushing for these protections such as full body scanners and mail scanners to be included in the budget, and has proposed legislation to implement these things.

“It is unacceptable that these incidents continue to occur when there is technology already available to make prisons safer,” Jones said in a statement.

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Long hours

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It is common for COs at Adirondack Correctional to work 24-hour shifts — sometimes multiple times in a week.

“The biggest issue is we’re here all the time and we’re not with our families. That’s really impacting our family life,” one officer said. “People are fed up with it.”

They never know when their shift will get extended.

At the end of these shifts, they feel drunk. It’s hard to stay awake that long. The lack of sleep makes them sick. Some of them drive here for work all the way from Watertown — two-and-a-half hours away. This exhaustion makes the drive home dangerous.

“You’re not supposed to be up for 24 hours,” one said.

Also, after working long shifts, if they are told to drive an inmate somewhere, with such little sleep, they say it is dangerous for them, the inmates and everyone else on the roads.

One CO said he’s seen the staff get cut down from 160 to 100 in the past decade.

One said that 70% staffing is the “new normal,” and they’re already running low on that.

“The problem is, the commissioner is pretty much saying ‘Get used to it, because it’s not going to change,'” one said.

They’re referencing a memo from Martuscello last week in which he said that DOCCS is missing around 2,200 COs statewide and said that “70% (staffing) … is the new 100%.”

DOCCS Spokesman Thomas Mailey clarified Martuscello was not talking about a staffing cut.

“His direction was for Superintendents and unions to work collaboratively at each prison to identify efficiencies in order to provide relief to the hardworking men and women who are Correction Officers within the facilities,” Mailey said. “(It is) a way to ensure staff have a work life balance while we continue to pursue a variety of recruitment initiatives.”

This is similar to the “augmentation practice at the nearby federal FCI Ray Brook prison, which union leaders COs have long had complaints and concerns about.

Officers said Adirondack Correctional has around 300 inmates with 100 officers divided among three shifts. That’s not enough people to cover the 24/7 supervision the facility needs. They said more people are retiring or quitting than getting hired. Some are leaving pensions behind, saying they’re tired of the work or worried about their safety.

Adirondack Correctional COs said there’s been a “meager” effort to hire, but it’s not enough.

“COs are the best recruiting tool they have … ‘Do we look happy?'” one said. “Like we’re going to tell our friends and family to take this job? Absolutely not.”

And they say they wouldn’t tell anyone to apply right now.

“Don’t do it until you see something change,” one said.

The officers have a list of recruiting suggestions, such as 20-year retirement; hiring bonuses; 2.5-times pay for all overtime on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; 2-times pay for all overtime Monday through Thursday; no overtime mandates over 16 hours and retention benefit of 25-year retirement lock, guaranteeing security families to receive full retirement after 25 years.

“A number of the items listed above would require some form of legislation in order to affect,” Mailey said.

He added that there is currently proposed legislation to allow DOCCS to hire out-of-state residents.

Mailey said DOCCS has raised the starting salary for COs by $6,500, launched a regional recruitment campaign and recently entered into a new collective bargaining agreement that includes yearly salary increases, increases in location pay and paid parental leave.

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HALT

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When inmates are getting high on synthetic cannabis or fighting with each other, officers say there are not serious enough repercussions.

One CO said there’s a fight just about every other day. They say that the drugs and fights are not safe for inmates or COs. If someone punches someone outside the prison, they get arrested. Inside, they say they get sent to their room.

They pin the blame for this on the HALT law. On the list of demands, there is only item written in all capital letters: “REPEAL THE HALT ACT.”

Jones is advocating for the state to make changes to the HALT Act, but not for a full repeal.

The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act was signed into law in March 2022. It states that long-term solitary confinement is torture.

A review by the state Inspector General on the first two years of the law, finding inadequacies in its implementation, can be found at tinyurl.com/pycfzxm9.

The HALT law changed the length and reasons an inmate could be put in solitary confinement, reducing it from up to 23 hours a day over many consecutive days, months or years, to be that an inmate held in any cell for more than 17 hours a day is generally limited to 15 consecutive days, or 20 days in any 60-day period.

To hold a person in solitary for up to 15 consecutive days now requires an evidentiary hearing to determine if the violation rose to a level making it necessary, such as if the acts were “so heinous or destructive that placement of the person in general population housing creates a significant risk of imminent serious physical injury to staff or other incarcerated persons.”

Mailey said neither the governor nor DOCCS can unilaterally change or repeal HALT. It would require legislation through the state houses.

Jerome Wright, the co-director of the #HALTsolitary Campaign who was himself incarcerated for 32 years and was a major advocate for the HALT Act, said these work stoppages leave inmates with limited access to food, medicine, visits, programs and other services.

“The illegal work stoppages aim to distract from guards’ and staff unconscionable lynching and killing of Robert Brooks at Marcy Prison as well as, rampant guard brutality and abuse throughout the state,” Wright said in a statement. Brooks’ death at the hands of COs at Marcy in Oneida County in December has been ruled a homicide in an autopsy report.

Wright said solitary confinement equates to torture, worsens safety and that alternatives are proven to reduce violence in prisons. He accused DOCCS of regularly violating the HALT Solitary Law.

“Further repression of incarcerated people is not going to make things safer for anyone — DOCCS, the Governor and the legislature must do the opposite and finally and fully implement the HALT Solitary Law,” he said.

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Some of the demands

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The list of strike demands includes that incoming mail to be photocopied or scanned to incarcerated individuals to avoid contraband being stuck in the mail, that body scanners are used for all visitors and that DOCCS stop using third-party vendors and get a “true secure vendor program.”

Mailey said that DOCCS is already photocopying mail and last week started a new program to verify that legal mail comes from law offices. He also said DOCCS has 88 body scanners, which are used on visitors and the incarcerated, with the majority of staff opting out of being scanned. He also said the current vendor package program was created from a task force which members of NYSCOPBA sit on and has reduced the amount of contraband found in incoming packages by 96%, from 920 package room recoveries in 2020 to 34 recoveries in 2024.

They are asking for local prison superintendents to have have the power to lockdown their facility. Currently, superintendents can close programs during “unusual incidents,” but full facility lockdowns require the commissioner’s approval.

The demands include a request for “timeliness of staff disciplinary actions.” Mailey said “this violates the collective bargaining agreement that was recently ratified by the membership which outlines the timeline for discipline to occur.”