Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans to utilize the New York National Guard on Wednesday if an “unsanctioned” statewide correction officer strike continues.

The strike resulted in dozens of state correction officers in the Hudson Valley joining in on the prison protests this week to highlight their safety concerns.

On Tuesday, protests were staged outside of six state prisons in Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties – including Otisville, Woodbourne, Ulster State Correctional Facility, Wallkill, Eastern Correctional Facility and Fishkill. The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) says workers are protesting outside of 25 state facilities, and in some cases, are on strike.

Gov. Hochul issued a statement calling on senior administration and senior NYSCOPBA leaders to end the “unlawful work stoppage.”

“The illegal and unlawful actions being taken by a number of correction officers must end immediately," Hochul said. "We will not allow these individuals to jeopardize the safety of their colleagues, incarcerated people, and the residents of communities surrounding our correctional facilities. Correction officers do difficult work under challenging circumstances, and I have consistently fought for them to have better pay and working conditions and will continue to do so.”

News 12 spoke to protesters outside of Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, who held signs that read “repeal HALT” and “stop 24-hour mandates during an hourslong gathering Tuesday on Route 52.

“Working triple shifts, it’s very hard on the human body to work 24 hours and if they fall asleep, they get locked out and suspended for falling asleep,” says retired Fishkill Correction Officer Joe Guarino.

The correction officers first started protesting at other facilities upstate on Monday and are demanding Gov. Hochul repeal the state’s Humane Alternatives to Long Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT), which among other things, limits the time prisoners can spend in segregated confinement.

They say the act has created a dangerous prison environment for both workers and inmates that incentives violence and claim it’s also contributing to staffing shortages that have resulted in state mandated 24-hour shifts – which they want to stop.

State prison workers also voiced concerns about what they say is a rise in contraband that’s getting into prisons and making correction officers and incarcerated individuals sick.

Sen. Rob Rolison is among several state representatives who believe changes are necessary within the state prison system.

“It’s unsafe for them and it’s unsafe for the people inside the facility along with the civilian staff,” Rolison says. “These men and women deserve better and it’s time for the governor to lead. This is a crisis that does not exist in any other workforce in the state system.”

Assemblyman Brian Maher tells News 12 that he is among officials who’ve been calling the governor to direct the New York National Guard to aid in prison shortages.

“These conditions impact our state employees, but they also impact many incarcerated individuals who are truly trying to rehabilitate and reintegrate back into society,” says Maher. “I have been sounding the alarm on this issue for more than two years.”

A representative for NYSCOPBA, the union representing state correction officers, says the strike is not sanctioned by the union but that they’re aware of the “discontent with working conditions.”

Critics, like Thomas Gant with Community Organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), say the timing of this strike is “no coincidence” and comes the same week that officers face indictment for the brutal torture and murder of Robert Brooks, an incarcerated man who died at the hands of DOCCS’ staff upstate.

“Instead of taking responsibility, COs are attempting to shield themselves from consequences and doubling down on a system built on harm,” says Grant. “New York’s prisons are in crisis, but not due to needed reforms, like the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. Instead, the real crisis is one of state-sanctioned violence, systemic abuse, and outdated sentencing laws that pointlessly warehouse New Yorkers for decades. This unsanctioned corrections officer strike is an abuse of power that is throwing already unstable conditions into chaos. In spite of their claims, this strike will not make anyone safer. Instead, it fuels instability, escalates tensions, and increases harm for everyone inside.”

A representative for DOCCS tells News 12 the strike is an “illegal job action” that jeopardizes the safety and security of their co-workers. They say the workers’ demands are largely unable to be fulfilled by the state agency and would require legislative action.

Visitation has been canceled in a number of prisons, according to DOCCS. A list of impacted prisons is listed on their website. The state department has not said if the strikes have an impact on any other prison operations.

Gov. Hochul says her office worked to increase salaries and hazard pay for state correction officers in 2024, has passed laws to better protect the state’s prison workforce, and has spearheaded measures to expand recruitment efforts.