By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
GOWANDA — The smell of wood burning floated from the correctional officers’ strike headquarters across Route 62 from the Collins Correctional Facility on Thursday.
The temperature was in the low teens and there was a light wind on the fourth day of the strike that began here and has spread to more than 30 facilities across the state.
Those on the picket line are a few hundred yards away from the facilities housing not only inmates, but some corrections officers who were prohibited from leaving to maintain a minimum staff.
On Wednesday night, members of the New York National Guard entered the minimum security prison to supplement the staff still inside the facilities.
A man acting as a spokesman for the striking corrections officers who asked that he not be identified by name for fear of losing his job, said the most important issue for officers is the repeal of HALT — Humane Alternatives to Long Term Solitary Confinement.
“HALT destroyed the disciplinary system,” the man said. “There are no repercussions for inmates. Besides being understaffed, it is an unsafe work environment — not just for COs, but for all employees.”
Related issues of staffing levels, training, job retention and safety are high on the corrections officers’ list of demands, as are wages and a more equal retirement system.
A retired corrections officer at the strike headquarters said the biggest demand is the complete repeal of the HALT Act. He said, “They’ll go back when they can take the facilities back.”
The HALT Act minimized the amount of time prisoners could spend in solitary confinement — or disciplinary housing, he said. “What that’s created is a mindset in the inmates that they can do pretty much whatever they want because there are no repercussions,” the spokesman said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul responded to the growing strike of corrections officers by calling out the National Guard.
The first thing the governor needs to do is repeal HALT, the spokesman said.
The striking corrections officers face fines under the state’s Taylor Law, which the governor has invoked. They could be fined two days pay for each day they were on strike.
The corrections officers spokesman said they were very appreciative of the donations that are being brought to the site at Route 62 and Wheater Road in Collins just north of Gowanda.
People and businesses have been sending food and water, coffee and donuts, grills, tents and tarps, a warming trailer, pallets and firewood, a dumpster and port-a-johns. Monetary donations are also accepted and several unions have also donated.
“The public is going by and honking their horns in support,” the spokesman said. Arera emergency services vehicles did a lineup on Route 62 in support of the corrections officers earlier Thursday, he added. Even passing police cars signal their support for the striking officers, he said.
U.S. Rep.Nick Langworthy also signaled his support for the corrections officers when he stopped by strike headquarters on Thursday.
The dangerous work practices have been made worse by the New York State HALT Act, “one of the worst pieces of legislation ever written in this state,” Langworthy said.
“It has put the rights of the people that have earned their stay in that building above the hardworking people that are there to keep this place safe.” He said the law has led to increased violence in prisons and called for its repeal.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
