U.S. Rep Nick Langworthy speaks Wednesday morning at the Collins Correctional Facility.

Republican members of the New York state Legislature and those from Congress continued lining up in support of corrections officers who are staging strikes at incarceration facilities in our region and throughout the state.

In Collins on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy of District 23 — in bone-chilling temperatures — stood with staff on the picket lines. “I am here today to send a clear and unequivocal message. Gov. Kathy Hochul needs to let these corrections officers do their job,” he said. “Budget cuts and do-gooder legislation like the HALT Act have put the lives of these corrections officers in danger. For far too long, they have been sounding the alarm that the working conditions in staffing assignments across the state of New York are unsafe.”

HALT Act legislation, which went into effect in 2021, restricts the use of solitary confinement in prison facilities. At least 25 facilities in New York were impacted by work stoppages.

The strikes are in response to recent events across the state regarding unsafe conditions for corrections officers. The latest incident took place last week in Collins, when a lockdown was initiated following a use of force to recover cell phones in the possession of an incarcerated individual.

On Tuesday evening, state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, also criticized Hochul for a lack of action in making the workplace safer for the employees. “Hochul’s shameful silence on the deplorable conditions in our state’s prisons speaks volumes,” he said. “The state employees, including correctional officers, whom she is obligated to protect, face daily dangers due to conditions intentionally imposed by a radical far-left legislature and her own administration. Instead of stepping up as the leader she claims to be and responding to the reasonable concerns of corrections officers, she has chosen to deploy the New York National Guard as a strike-busting force-a move that’s as cowardly as it is ineffective.”

Hochul responded Wednesday morning calling for an end to the work stoppages that she called “disruptive and unsanctioned” while jeopardizing the safety of their colleagues, the prison population while “causing undue fear for the residents in surrounding communities.”

“I will not allow this chaos to continue. My administration and I have been and will continue meeting with union leadership to resolve this situation immediately,” Hochul said. “But if it is not resolved, I will send in the National Guard to secure the facilities in question. They’ve already been deployed and are ready to stabilize the situation.”