Let’s talk about New York’s prison system. Because, oh boy, it is ON FIRE. No, not literally. Yet. But metaphorically? It’s a five-alarm blaze fueled by bad policy, bureaucratic nonsense, and an absolute refusal to acknowledge reality.
So, get this—the prison guards are on strike. You heard that right. The people who are supposed to keep inmates from murdering each other (or them) have decided, “Nope, we’re out.” And before you say, “Wait, aren’t public workers banned from striking?” YES. They are. But do you know what else is technically illegal? Forcing people to work mandatory 24-hour shifts in a violent, understaffed hellhole where getting punched in the face is just another Tuesday.
And that brings us to The HALT Act. Now, this was supposed to be a progressive reform. It was meant to reduce the use of solitary confinement, because—and this is true—torturing people makes them crazier. Great idea in theory. In practice? Well, it turns out when you remove the only form of discipline in a maximum-security prison, things get a teensy bit chaotic. You know, like unleashing a pack of rabid raccoons in an Olive Garden and then being shocked when the breadsticks go airborne.
Violence against guards skyrocketed. That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact. Assaults on officers went through the roof because, SURPRISE, if you tell dangerous criminals that consequences don’t exist, they take full advantage of that. The guards have been warning about this for years, but did anybody listen? Nope! So now they’re striking because they don’t feel safe.
And what was the government’s solution? Deploy the National Guard.Yes, the same National Guard that was just minding its own business, doing… I don’t know… Guard things? Probably training, helping in disasters, playing cards at the base. And now they’re being thrown into MAXIMUM-SECURITY PRISONS. Places where seasoned, trained correctional officers already get their butts kicked on the regular.
New York Senator Daniel Stec pointed out that, and I quote, “Some of these soldiers are safer in war zones than they are in our prisons right now.” FANTASTIC. We’ve officially reached a point where actual combat is preferable to Albany’s corrections system. You know your prison policy is bad when a soldier who fought in Iraq is like, “Yeah, no thanks. That place is dangerous.”
Meanwhile, Governor Hochul is bleeding taxpayer money like a stuck pig. This crisis is costing $3.5 million a day. PER DAY. That’s $3.5 million of your hard-earned cash being set on fire to cover for a crisis that did not have to happen. That money could go anywhere—schools, infrastructure, hell, just give it back to people so they can afford their rent! But no. It’s going toward patching a prison system held together with duct tape, empty threats, and a prayer.
But wait! It gets worse! Because not only are the guards still refusing to go back to work, but prisoners are dying, too. At least seven inmates have been killed in the chaos, including a 22-year-old man who allegedly got beaten to death. Just in case you thought this was only a labor dispute—NOPE! We’ve also got good old-fashioned murder in the mix. Because of course we do.
Oh, and let’s talk about the deal the state tried to offer. The one that was supposed to bring this all to an end? It included a temporary 90-day suspension of the HALT Act and some extra overtime pay. And the guards took one look at that and went “LOL, no.” Because they know what’s going to happen in 90 days. Everything will go back to the same dangerous mess, and they’ll be right back where they started.
So here we are. A crisis that everyone saw coming, nobody in power wanted to prevent, and now everyone is scrambling to fix after the entire system has collapsed.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is New York’s prison system: A disaster so bad it makes the DMV look like Disneyland.
