ALBANY, N.Y. — About 2,600 New York National Guard members remain assigned to state prisons more than a year after correction officers returned to work, a deployment one lawmaker’s office estimates is costing the state $50 million a month.
The National Guard was sent into correctional facilities after correction officers began an unauthorized statewide strike in February 2025. Although the strike ended the following month, troops remained to support prison operations amid an ongoing correction officer shortage, WWNY reported.
The Guard’s 2025 annual report, published in July, says troops remained in prisons as part of the state’s agreement with the correction officers’ union to help reduce mandatory overtime for correction officers. The mandatory deployment shifted to a volunteer mission April 1, 2025, with those who stayed receiving a $2,000 bonus every two weeks in addition to regular state active-duty pay and allowances.
More than 8,000 Guard members served in 42 state prisons during 2025, collectively working more than 800,000 workdays. The deployment peaked at more than 7,300 troops, and nearly 3,000 remained assigned to prisons at the end of 2025.
More than 3,100 Guard members completed a weeklong training course before taking on duties that included conducting head counts, delivering meals and monitoring incarcerated people in cells and dormitories, Task & Purpose reported.
State Sen. Mark Walczyk questioned whether the deployment should continue.
“Nobody signed up for the National Guard to staff a prison,” Walczyk told WWNY. “It was never the mission of New York’s National Guard to fill in and do a bunch of state jobs.”
Assemblyman Scott Gray, whose office provided the $50 million monthly estimate, called the model too costly.
“It’s a very expensive model,” Gray said. “This is not the way it’s designed to run, and it still doesn’t answer the systemic problems that we have in the facilities.”
Gray said the state must address concerns surrounding the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT), prison contraband and correction officers’ quality of life.
Bryan Hluska, central region vice president for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, said the Guard remains necessary while the state recruits more correction officers.
“More National Guard is really the only short-term solution,” Hluska told WWNY. “I agree we shouldn’t be relying on it as a long-term solution. We need to really focus on our recruitment efforts.”
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said it has expanded recruitment since the strike, including raising pay, offering a $3,000 sign-on bonus, lowering the minimum application age to 18 and opening correction officer positions to out-of-state residents.
The department reports a 155% increase in people taking the correction officer exam, a 64% increase in academy appointments and a 43% increase in academy graduates. It did not provide the underlying totals for those percentages on its recruitment initiative webpage.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has continued to renew the disaster emergency authorizing the Guard’s presence. The latest executive order, issued Aug. 14, says continued support is needed to preserve staff resources and safely operate the state’s correctional facilities. It remains in effect through Sept. 13.
