Those involved in a corrections officer strike at several New York prisons are awaiting details of a tentative offer reached between the New York state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and the state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), a source close to negotiations told Spectrum News 1.

Mediation efforts between the state and the union representing the workers are in their third day. The strike has been taking place for 11 days as those participating have decried lengthy shifts and staffing shortages that they say are caused by the challenge of recruiting officers amid increased violence in the facilities.

The union has not sanctioned the strike, so a tentative deal with the union doesn't necessarily mean an end to the strike is imminent. Each individual correction officer will have to decide if they want to accept the terms of the tentative deal.

Those close to the individuals striking had stressed for days that a full repeal of the HALT Act, which limits the use of segregated confinement and works to replace it with rehabilitative programming, was the central demand. Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders would have to act to make that happen, and throughout the week showed no appetite for a repeal as they railed against the illegal nature of the strike.

Tammy Sawchuk, a retired sergeant who worked at the Greene Correctional Facility, said any deal must include a repeal or a suspension of HALT.

“It doesn’t work, it has never worked,” she said of the law. “You created a much bigger problem and you compound that with a lack of staff, drugs coming into the system. It’s disastrous for everybody.”

Beyond a repeal of HALT and other items dealing with lengthy shifts, pay and pensions, she said the list of demands presented by striking officers contains other important items that are needed to address – what officers have described as a constant flow of contraband they say is putting everyone in the facility in danger. Some of those also require the legislature to act.

“They need to include in the budget body scanners. I believe they should go back to a program that they had as a pilot program, secure vendors to stop the influx of drugs,” she said.

Sawchuk also was executive vice president of NYSCOPBA for several years, and stressed the challenging position the union has been in trying to deliver results on behalf of officers in an illegal and unsanctioned strike.

“The union told them not to do it, and they did anyway, so they’re in between a rock and a hard place. But I know because I still speak to people in the union that they are doing their due diligence,” she said.

It comes as advocates who pushed for the HALT Act push state leaders to do their due diligence, arguing that the law isn’t being fairly portrayed, or as a 2024 inspector general report found, properly implemented. The inspector general found that antiquated recordkeeping systems made it unclear if the rehabilitative aspects of the law were being put in place as written, or if the proper conditions for segregated confinement and associated recreational time were being met.

“You cannot say something is broken or does not work if you have never fully implemented it,” said Jerome Wright, co-director of the #HALTsolitary Campaign, who has been in solitary confinement himself.

Wright also accused those on strike of only initiating the action as a result of the indictments surrounding the death of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility, slamming officers for blaming a February staffing memo declaring 70% staffing to be 100%.

Corrections officers blame HALT for an increase in violence they say has made it impossible to attract new workers, but Wright said the law allows up to 15 days of segregated confinement before a hearing is required, which he argued is enough to de-escalate a dangerous situation before further action is taken.

Beyond that, incarcerated individuals who are found to need more time in segregation as a result of those proceedings are moved to residential units that are intended to feature programming.

“Some people need to be habilitated, and habilitation means the opportunity to learn and grow and see different options. That’s what HALT provides,” he said.

Wright is pushing the state to retain HALT and ensure it is fully implemented, arguing that the rehabilitative aspects of the law haven’t been given the opportunity to work without full compliance.

“I did time. I was in solitary. I got nothing from being in solitary, so you want us to go back to 23 hours in the cell and one hour for recreation? There’s no programming going on in solitary. HALT mandates programming because we know the most effective way to get someone to change is by having options. How do you have options? Through effective programming.”

Sawchuk is hoping the state was willing to hear out those who are on strike, despite its illegal nature.

“I think there has to be a balance between the governor’s office, the state, DOCCS the agency and also the union as a whole, not just the board. The board has to listen to the members as well,” she said.