Hundreds of state correction officers at more than two dozen upstate prisons went on a wildcat strike Tuesday, forcing Gov. Kathy Hochul to prepare to deploy of the New York National Guard to replace them if the walkout extends into Wednesday. 

Officers picketed outside 25 facilities as of Tuesday afternoon according to media reports and Thomas Mailey, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. 

The walkout comes as multiple state correction officers are expected to be criminally charged for their roles in the fatal beating of a handcuffed detainee on Dec. 10, according to the Albany Times Union.

In a beating caught on body cameras, Robert Brooks, 43, was kicked and punched by guards who held him down on a medical bed at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County. New York Attorney General Letitia James on Dec. 27 released footage of four officers at the scene who didn’t realize the cameras were recording. At least three sergeants and a nurse were also present during the beatdown, the videos show. 

Public employees are barred from striking under the state’s Taylor Law. Enacted in 1967, the law gives municipal workers the ability to collectively bargain their contracts and other protections in return for outlawing strikes.

The New York State Correction Officers Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) has not formally endorsed the strike. A ‘wildcat’ strike is a worker action not ed by a union.

On Tuesday, Hochul demanded the officers immediately end the walkout. 

“We will not allow these individuals to jeopardize the safety of their colleagues, incarcerated people and the residents of communities surrounding our correctional facilities,” the governor said in a statement. 

The state “will begin to take appropriate disciplinary action as necessary” if the strike doesn’t stop, she added. 

The labor dispute comes on the heels of the head prison system earlier this month asking his top deputies to come up with a broad plan to deal with ongoing staff shortages. In a Feb. 10 memo, Daniel Martuscello III ordered superintendents to “redefine” how they operate with fewer officers, noting that “70% of our original staffing model is the new 100%.” 

Days later, the union issued a vote of no-confidence against Martuscello, the Albany Times Union reported. 

NYSCOPBA says that its ranks are down about 2,000 officers from 2023 with a current total of 13,229 correction officers.

Citing the Brooks death, criminal-justice reformers and some state lawmakers have called for a total overhaul of the long maligned state prison system. 

In her latest proposed budget, Hochul has earmarked $400 million to install security cameras in all prisons. 

“We need to do more to make sure that every inch of a facility is covered in cameras,” she told an NBC in Brighton, N.Y., on Feb. 7. 

“I have called for a system wide culture review to see, is this going on anywhere else,” she added. 

NYSCOPBA has opposed the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Act (HALT). That legislation, signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, took full effect in March 2022. 

But prison officials have repeatedly violated the 15-day limit, according to an investigation by New York Focus. 

NYSCOPBA has urged Hochul to repeal the law, which also restricts the use of solitary for pregnant women and people with mental illness. 

ers of the solitary-confinement measure contend that isolating people for long stretches is akin to torture. 

“New York’s prisons are in crisis, but not due to needed reforms, like the HALT Solitary Confinement Act,” said Thomas Grant, a community organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives. 

“Instead, the real crisis is one of state-sanctioned violence, systemic abuse, and outdated sentencing laws that pointlessly warehouse New Yorkers for decades,” he added. “This unsanctioned correction officer strike is an abuse of power that is throwing already unstable conditions into chaos. In spite of claims, this strike will not make anyone safer. Instead, it fuels instability, escalates tensions, and increases harm for everyone inside.”