>>22700172 lb

The biggest issue behind the New York prison guard strike

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/2025/02/the-biggest-issue-behind-the-new-york-prison-guard-strike.html

One underappreciated aspect of the law is that it gave incarcerated people viable ways to contest unjust punishment. It mandates timely disciplinary hearings before sending someone to solitary and gives prisoners the right to representation at those hearings.

In this way, HALT not only moved the needle on humanitarian conditions in New York prisons and jails — it also altered the balance of power. Since its enactment, activist-minded incarcerated people have taken up roles as “jailhouse lawyers” representing their blockmates. They build cases, introduce camera footage and other evidence, and force officers to justify the sanctions they hand down — a novel dynamic in a setting unused to procedural justice.

Incarcerated men at Green Haven Correctional Facility experienced both the power and limits of that dynamic after a lockdown in October 2023. According to a lawsuit, guards went cell-by-cell conducting searches, then attacked incarcerated people, punching and kicking dozens in what they describe as an unprovoked, eight-day, systematic beatdown. Guards proceeded to write up alleged victims for assault and violence — a common tactic to cover up abuse, incarcerated people have long asserted. But many reported that they were cleared of the charges after disciplinary hearing officers reviewed video of the beatings. While they experienced injury, they avoided the added insult.