Liberal Woke Justice Leaves Inmates Running the Asylum in New York Prisons

New York state prisons, which house some 32,000 inmates, are facing a major crisis – and almost no one is talking about it.

For the last two weeks, more than 15,000 New York corrections officers have been on a “wildcat” strike, or a strike that is not approved by the union or allowed by law. As a result, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has been forced to call in the National Guard to maintain order in the state’s prisons while also threatening to arrest the striking officers. The governor announced during a press conference last week that legal proceedings have commenced against nearly 400 officers, with police issuing restraining orders to 380 individuals.

The strike is in protest of Democrat “reforms” that have unleashed a wave of chaos and violence throughout the state’s prisons. Corrections officers are particularly outraged over the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT Act, which went into effect in 2022. The law limits solitary confinement to no more than 15 consecutive days or 20 days total in a 60-day period and prohibits solitary confinement for inmates under 22 or over 54, regardless of crime.

The HALT Act also reserves solitary confinement for only the most serious offenses, such as assaults on fellow inmates or officers, and creates an oversight system that severely limits officers’ ability to put prisoners in solitary confinement at all.

Since passage of the HALT Act, assaults and general mayhem have exploded in prisons throughout New York. According to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, since 2022, “inmate assaults are up 169%, staff assaults are up 76%, and incidents of illegal contraband increased by 32%.” As Republican State Senator Daniel Stec told Fox News, “It’s not safe for the officers, it’s not safe inside for anybody.”

Late last week, The Daily Wire released shocking leaked footage from inside Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York backing up Stec’s assertion.

The graphic videos depict inmates assaulting officers, attacking other prison employees, and “slashing each other’s faces.” One recording, taken shortly after the HALT Act went into effect, even shows the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old inmate Jarett Frost. The anonymous leaker of the video told the outlet that “HALT has stripped us of our ability to incentivize good behavior among the inmate population and deter them from attacking us…We are swallowing our pride and losing our souls in the process.”

Republican legislators have called for the law’s immediate repeal. New York Assembly Minority Leader Barclay posted on X last week that repealing the law “should be the first step toward improving the state prison system and addressing the disastrous situation unfolding currently.”

But Democrat legislators have continued to stand by their failed policy. After Senator Stec introduced legislation to repeal the HALT Act last week, it was voted down along party lines.

Despite the fact that the prison system in the country’s fourth-most populous state is now in danger of devolving into complete chaos, this shocking story has received relatively little attention from the corporate media – doubly surprising given the liberal press’s usual sympathy for union causes and government workers.

As Daily Wire host Matt Walsh noted on his podcast last week, the media has “[devoted] days of coverage to the plight of federal bureaucrats” upset over an email asking what they did last week, but has “demonstrated no sympathy” for New York corrections officers even as they point out that their very lives are in danger just by showing up to work.

Walsh also noted that the average life expectancy for a correctional officer in the United States is 59 years, almost 20 years less than the average American. According to New York State research, correctional officers have a 40% higher suicide rate than the general population, attributed to the high stress of performing the job and deadly attacks from inmates.

Although Hochul announced a tentative deal with union leaders to break the strike late last week, that agreement came unraveled over the weekend as thousands of officers said it did not go far enough in addressing their concerns. The agreement would indemnify all striking officers from discipline, “reduce mandated overtime, increase the overtime pay rate, and temporarily hire retired corrections officers to assist in transporting incarcerated people.”

However, the deal falls short on the strikers’ main demand – repeal of the HALT Act. The agreement would only suspend the HALT Act for 90 days, after which it would go back into effect. The mother of one of the striking workers told Fox News that the deal is a “slap in every officer’s face” and that Hochul only “cares about the inmates and their rights.”

Although discussions are still ongoing, some officers did return to work this weekend after facing threat of termination. According to the Albany-based Times Union, the state comptroller’s office has also stopped paying striking officers and suspended their health insurance. Others, however, say they are determined to maintain the strike until the HALT Act is repealed.

Though Democrats have done their best to distance themselves from the “Defund the Police” fiasco of 2020 and 2021, this crisis in New York is a reminder that the party is still as committed as ever to “woke justice” and putting criminals ahead of law and order – and basic common sense.

Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.