<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1lMdCS_0zbneCcA00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1lMdCS_0zbneCcA00" width="1024" height="1024" ><figcaption>Caspar Carson/Photo Editor Rep. Josh Riley’s response to the striking correctional workers has drawn criticism from local activist groups.</figcaption></figure>The weekslong strike, unauthorized by union leadership ended over the weekend, and the state fired around 2,000 guards who failed to return to work.During the wildcat strike of the New York state’s correctional officers, which lasted for 22 days before an agreement was recently reached, Rep. Josh Riley faced pushback from local activists for his response.Late last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the state offered a deal to the New York State Correctional Officers &amp; Police Benevolent Association Inc. to end a strike impacting the state’s prison system. After the union rejected the deal, a new offer was made last Thursday, which included increased pay, limited mandated overtime and assured striking officers that they would not face retaliation.The Thursday deal had proposed that a committee would review the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement, or HALT Act, to determine if some of its provisions could be modified.The legislation puts certain restrictions in place regarding solitary confinement. Incarcerated individuals who are 21 or younger, 55 or older, disabled or pregnant cannot be placed in solitary, and confinement is limited to 15 consecutive days or 20 days in a 60-day period.Though the union rejected this deal, the strike finally ended with an agreement on Saturday. Hochul had deployed thousands of members of the National Guard to maintain order across the prison systems.In a Feb. 25 post on the platform X, Riley voiced his support for the striking correctional workers.“Corrections officers have a tough job in harsh conditions with minimal resources,” Riley wrote. “Instead of helping, Albany politicians are making things even worse with half baked policies and mandates. Law enforcement, including COs, shouldn’t be collateral damage in Albany’s latest dysfunction. Let’s get these folks what they need so they can get back to work.”Riley’s response received criticism from local activist groups, including Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, a community organization that advocates against mass incarceration and policing. Andrew Pragacz MA ‘18, president of JUST, decried the response as a way to “score political points.”“I don’t know who he thinks he’s trying to impress by ticking off his base and people that put him in office,” Pragacz said. “But more to the point around the HALT law and his criticism of it, he thinks that this is a political winner for him. I don’t know why, I think he’s wrong.”Pragacz said the strike followed the killing of Robert Brooks, a 43-year-old inmate who was fatally beaten by correctional officers in December. He said Brooks’ death exemplified the “arbitrariness, some of it particularly violent” present in the prison system.JUST, with Citizen Action New York and the Broome-Tioga chapter of the NAACP, rallied outside the Brome County office building on Tuesday to protest Brooks’ death. They demanded that the HALT Act remain implemented and called for the improvement of conditions inside the Broome County Jail.“It is a misconception that justice-involved individuals deserve the treatment they receive, because the truth is that ALL people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” the NAACP said in a statement addressing the rally. “Inhumane treatment should never be regarded as the cost for a second chance.”Correctional officers and sergeants at 36 of the state’s 42 prisons had refused to report to work. However, this strike, per New York’s Taylor Law, is not approved by the correction officers’ union.“My top priority is the safety of all New Yorkers, and for the past 11 days, I have deployed every possible State resource to protect the well-being of correction officers, the incarcerated population and local communities across New York,” Hochul told the Associated Press. Her office did not return Pipe Dream’s request for comment.The state, according to several media reports, fired around 2,000 prison guards who refused to return to work following the strike’s end.Since the HALT Act’s 2022 implementation, assaults on prison staff increased by over 40 percent. This led to difficulties in recruiting new prison guards to counter the rapid turnover of those quitting. Supporters of the reform suggest that the law helps stop some abuse facing incarcerated people, like 23-hour periods of solitary confinement for minor offenses.When reached for comment, Riley’s office directed Pipe Dream to his social media statements. In another X post on March 2, Riley said he joined the strikers on the picket line “to support them and to listen to them.”“They want the prison to be safer for everybody: prisoners, visitors, and their fellow officers,” Riley wrote in the post. “I want that for them, too. But right now, they’re not getting the respect they’ve earned, and they’re being asked to do too much with too little while facing unrealistic mandates out of Albany.”</div></body>

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The weekslong strike, unauthorized by union leadership ended over the weekend, and the state fired around 2,000 guards who failed to return to work. During the wildcat strike of the New York state’s correctional officers, which lasted for 22 days before an agreement was recently reached, Rep. Josh Riley faced pushback from local activists for his response.

Rep. Riley faces criticism from local activists for his response to striking correctional workers

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The weekslong strike, unauthorized by union leadership ended over the weekend, and the state fired around 2,000 guards who failed to return to work. During

Rep. Riley faces criticism from local activists for his response to striking correctional workers

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