Elmira COs Battling Unsafe Work Environment

Update 3/13/2025

On 3/10/2025 New York State Governor Kathy Hochul fired 2000 Correctional Officers and announced the Strike was over. Then she signed an Executive Order that bars the hiring of any CO participating in the Strike from being hired for state jobs. The order also directs DOCCS to report the fired officers to the New York State Central Registry of Police & Peace Officers. It also recommends removal based on participating in the strike. This would disqualify them from applying for local law enforcement positions within New York. This fight isn’t over!!!!

We are looking for donations to help all those who were fired from Elmira because they were standing up for safer working conditions not just for themselves but for Civilian workers and the inmates.

My name is Annette. I am creating this fundraiser to support our CO's and their families who are holding the line at Elmira Prison in the state of New York. On 2/17/2025, 38 out of the 42 prisons in New York State went on strike due to unsafe working conditions. Since the HALT Act went into effect, their safety and the inmates' safety have been compromised. Violence has escalated: inmate-on-inmate attacks have increased along with inmate-on-CO attacks. The reason this has happened is due to the fact there are no real consequences for their behavior. If an inmate stabs another inmate or even kills that inmate, he will get 15 days in the Special Housing Unit. That is it! Once he gets out of the SHU, and if he continues to be violent, he can't be sent to the SHU unless it has been at least 90 days since he has been there. If an inmate attacks a CO, again that is all he will get. I am not saying all inmates are bad. Most just want to do their time and get out, but now they are in a position where they could be harmed by another inmate with no real consequences.

To go along with all this, our CO's have been going to work and not knowing when they will be home. They will go in for their 8-hour shift, and that could end up being a double (16 hours) or a triple (24 hours), and some have had to stay longer. This has been happening day after day, week after week, month after month for the past few years. Some have gone months without a day off. They have voiced their concerns over and over, and no one would listen; nothing was being done to address their concerns. Last month, the Commission of Corrections sent out a memo stating that 70% staffing for a prison was now the new 100%.

The COs who are holding the line received their last paycheck that will have any money in it (3/7/2025). Their bills will be going unpaid. New York State is fining them for every day they are out on strike. BUT NYS has imposed a 2 for 1. Which means for every day they are out they are fined 2 days' pay. Our governor (Kathy Hochul) canceled their health insurance and backdated it to the day the strike started even though it is paid ahead. Kathy Hochul just didn't cancel the striking CO's but any CO who didn't show up for work on 2/17/2025, meaning if they were out on medical or FMLA or on vacation. So any CO's or family members who were in the hospital, recovering from surgery, needing treatments for, say, cancer, or were pregnant lost their insurance. All CO's who were out on medical or FMLA were told to report to work or be terminated.