Gov. Hochul’s Solution for Staffing Shortages: Release Thousands of Violent Criminals

New York Gov. Hochul wouldn’t improve the working conditions for prison guards, so they went on strike. They’re afraid of the prisoners because they are so short-staffed. She fired 2,000 of them for striking. Now they are even more understaffed, so Hochul’s solution is to release 4,000 violent felons.

Gov. Kathy Hochul fired 2,000 prison guards who went out on strike because of the horrendous conditions in the prisons. The strike is illegal in New York. They are overworked and afraid of the prisoners because they are understaffed. Some fear the prisoners will behead them.

Under these conditions, she fired thousands of guards. Now, her solution is to release violent felons early.

Hochul is proposing making some violent offenders eligible for a state program that allows inmates to be sprung early on merit time if they meet specific requirements,  according to sources familiar with the talks.

The program currently only applies to non-violent offenders, allowing them to reduce their sentences by earning degrees or acquiring vocational skills.

The governor’s office has shared numbers with the state Legislature, estimating that upwards of 4,000 prisoners have already met the programming requirements and are therefore eligible for release.

The Strike

Striking corrections workers went on strike, hoping to roll back the 2022 HALT Act. The Act aimed to restrict the use of solitary confinement in state prisons and jails. Instead, they were given therapy. It isn’t working.

Guards are forced to sleep in a gym with over a hundred people on cots, facing poor food quality, and working in close quarters with inmates. Hochul sent 3500 National Guardsmen in, and they experienced the same hell.

The prisoners are in control of the prisons and take drugs out in the open.

Gov. Hochul referred to the striking guards as “criminals.” Nothing has improved in the prisons. The situation is worse.

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