Strikes in New York’s Prisons Were Declared Over, but Disarray Remains

New York|Strikes in New York’s Prisons Were Declared Over, but Disarray Remains

At Adirondack Correctional Facility near the Canadian border, the job of delivering meals to hungry inmates fell suddenly to the prison’s superintendent and its teachers and counselors.

At Auburn Correctional Facility in central New York, two ailing men died after not receiving medical care quickly enough.

At Sing Sing Correctional Facility north of New York City, where inmates had been confined in housing areas for more than a week, a man hanged himself in his cell — with no one around to intervene.

Across the state, as wildcat strikes by corrections officers wore on for a 15th straight day, their toll on the men and women who live and work in New York’s prisons was becoming clearer.

In some prisons, inmates have been forced to go without hot food and showers. In others, they have missed court dates or languished without needed medicine, services or mental health care, according to interviews with prisoners, staff members and National Guard soldiers who were called in to keep order when the corrections officers walked off the job.

At least seven prisoners have died since the strikes began on Feb. 17.

Some of the more than 7,000 Guard members deployed to the prisons described feeling unprepared for the task and being forced to work without a clear understanding of their duties. Some were not provided with pepper spray or other means of protecting themselves. Unable to leave the prisons during the deployment, many have slept on gym floors and eaten the same bologna sandwiches served to the prisoners.