By Robert Harding
The Citizen, Auburn, N.Y.
AUBURN, N.Y. — When the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision fired 2,000 correction officers to end a three-week-long strike in 2025, it exacerbated a staffing crisis.
At a state budget hearing on Thursday, state Sen. Tom O’Mara asked DOCCS Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III if he regrets firing the correction officers, especially as the state is spending more than $1 billion to deploy the National Guard to state prisons and the agency has 4,600 vacant correction officer positions.
Martuscello did not hesitate.
“No,” he responded.
O’Mara, R- Big Flats, followed up and questioned Martuscello’s stance.
“Haven’t they been punished enough?” he asked.
During the strike, Martuscello said correction officers had opportunities to return to work. There were four different agreements, he noted, that included concessions from the state in exchange for the officers ending the work stoppage. Although some officers returned to their posts, others continued what DOCCS has called an “illegal job action.”
Because the state terminated the employees under the collective bargaining agreement, the fired officers could file grievances. According to Martuscello, more than 900 workers were rehired.
“We have given them an opportunity to come back,” Martuscello said. “That has now ended.”
Thousands of correction officers went on strike at New York correctional facilities due to concerns about prison violence and working conditions. Before the walkout, DOCCS reported a record number of assaults on staff and assaults on incarcerated individuals in 2024.
Striking correction officers demanded the repeal of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, a law that limits the use of segregated confinement in county jails and state prisons. Officers believe HALT has contributed to increasing violence in prisons.
Although repealing HALT was unlikely — ultimately, it’s a legislative decision — DOCCS and the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association , which represents state correction officers, agreed to form a committee that would examine ways to improve the law.
Proposed reforms were released in September. However, there has been no action by the state Legislature to implement those changes.
Assemblyman Phil Palmesano, who also questioned Martuscello during the budget hearing, urged Hochul to include HALT reform legislation in her 2026-27 budget.
“If she doesn’t, she doesn’t give one iota about the safety and care of our correction officers,” Palmesano, R- Corning , said.
Staffing was among the top issues addressed during the hearing, with Martuscello highlighting DOCCS’ efforts to boost recruitment in the aftermath of the strike.
The correction officer shortfall is significant. Beginning in 2021, the state has lost at least 1,000 correction officers a year. This trend worsened in 2025 due to the strike, with a loss of 2,817 correction officers.
The number of correction officers employed by DOCCS fell from 19,295 in 2018 to 11,278 at the end of 2025. Martuscello said the department has 6,600 vacant positions, most of which are correction officers.
To counter the decline, DOCCS invested in its recruitment process, contracted with an advertising firm and took other actions, such as increasing correction officer salaries. According to Martuscello, 60,000 people completed forms expressing interest in becoming a correction officer, and 20,000 were placed on an eligible list.
Despite losing 2,800 correction officers in 2025, the state added 550 new officers. The next academy class has 130 recruits.
“We had to get the attrition rate under control, and we had to attract the people in, so that was going to take some time,” Martuscello said, adding, “We never thought it was going to be overnight, but everything is trending in the right direction.”
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