Gov. Hochul once dubbed Hazel Dukes, the venerable leader of New York State’s NAACP chapter, “my mom on Earth.” But Dukes and her board said Tuesday they are “profoundly disturbed” over the governor’s decision to suspend elements of the HALT solitary law temporarily during the wildcat prison guard strike.
The indictment of 10 officers — six for murder — for the fatal, caught-on-video beating of prisoner Robert Brooks on Dec. 9 at Marcy Correctional Facility was supposed to be a “moment of accountability,” the NAACP conference said in a statement.
“Instead, DOCCS has used this moment to embrace the culture of brutality in New York State prisons.”
NY Attorney General
Body camera footage shows officers brutally beating inmate Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., on Dec. 9. Brooks died of his injuries the following day. (NY Attorney General)
Daniel Martuscello, the commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, had said in a memo on Feb. 19, two days into the strike, that temporary suspension of elements of HALT was part of the state’s response. He did not specify what that meant.
Later Tuesday, Hochul sent a strong message to the striking officers: “The illegal actions being taken by a number of individuals is putting the entire state at risk. We need them back to work; this must end immediately,” she said. “We’ve done everything we can to encourage them to get back to work.”
James Miller, a spokesman for the correction officers union, said mediation talks Monday centered on “the need for operational change,” including suspending elements of HALT temporarily and “potential legislative changes to permanently change HALT.”
While the union may claim that, the law’s backers note it was passed by an overwhelming majority in the state Legislature in 2022. Some 90 civil rights, religious and mental health groups sent a letter to Martuscello Tuesday strongly pushing back on any change to HALT, temporary or otherwise.
“HALT is the law of New York State and DOCCS does not have the authority to push it aside,” the letter said.
A previous challenge to the law by the union in federal court was dismissed in 2022.
“They don’t have the authority to suspend any law,” said state Sen. Jessica Salazar (D-Brooklyn), a sponsor of HALT. “It offers some flexibility in situations like this, but you don’t get to suspend a law.”
Salazar said a group of wives of striking officers descended on her office in Albany Tuesday and screamed at her staff. “They were hostile and refused to leave,” she said. “My staff handled it well. We didn’t have to call the police.”
In other developments, state police officers Sunday night served cease-and-desist orders on strikers at their homes, Miller said.
On Friday, it emerged that Hochul floated a plan in a budget amendment asking for the authority to close five more prisons. Inmates at Collins Correctional Facility, one of the places where the strike started, were being bussed to other lockups.
Meanwhile, more than 200 anecdotal reports from inside the prisons obtained by The News lay out that extended lockdowns, limited access to showers, medical care and legal calls, reduced court appearances, a ban on visits and a steady diet of cold food are on the menu for many of the state’s 33,500 inmates during the strike.
There has already been at least one fatality. On Saturday morning, Jonathan Grant, a 61-year-old inmate, was found unresponsive in his cell and declared dead. An investigation is underway.
At Attica and Bare Hill prisons, notes written Monday claimed prisoners weren’t receiving enough food, there was no hot water and recreation and mail were unavailable. “Dinner was one beef patty, lettuce and an apple,” the note from Attica said.
At Marcy, where Brooks died, an inmate reported Friday, “We are on complete lockdown. The only movement I have seen are men going to the infirmary for their insulin and medication.”
At Auburn Correctional Facility, an inmate claimed he “hadn’t been let out of his cell in days.”
At Sing Sing prison, an inmate claimed Monday, “Just got back from getting informed by the administration that there is a total lockdown, but no one knows when it will end.”
At Eastern in Ulster County, a prisoner reported Tuesday he was “losing vision” in one eye, but he’s not getting medical help.
An inmate at Elmira CF wrote in an email Saturday, “I need your help with this lockdown. We are being treated like s–t. All meals are cold. No supplies. No showers. No phone calls. No nothing. No medical being provided. National Guard is supposedly here.”
At Five Points prison — like Auburn, also in the Finger Lakes region — an inmate reported in a note that he spoke to a nurse about “sharp stabbing chest pains,” but that she responded, “There is nothing we can do about it. Try to lay down and relax.”
At Green Haven CF in Dutchess County Saturday, an inmate reported that his friend, age 75 and in a wheelchair, wasn’t getting his pain medications brought to him. “He needs someone to push him down to the hospital in his wheelchair [to get his meds] because he can’t do it on his own power,” the note claimed.
At Shawangunk CF in Ulster County, an inmate reported Monday the National Guardsmen were playing cards and chess in the units. The Guard members, 6,500 of whom were deployed by Hochul in response to the strike — with some camping in prison gyms — have received some positive marks from the prison population. “It feels like a vacation,” an inmate told an observer.
“While this is far from an ideal situation, I ask each of you to stick with us during this challenging time,” Martuscello wrote in a message to inmates Sunday.
Hochul commented on her relations with Dukes on Aug. 26, 2021, at the swearing-in of then-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin. “My mom on Earth is Hazel Dukes,” she said. “She has befriended me, stood with me through thick and thin, she’s my spiritual adviser.”
