Collins Correctional Facility

The nine-day-old informational picket by state corrections officers has prompted the Department of Correctional and Community Supervision to ask the Erie County Sheriff’s Department to not transfer any of its inmates into New York-operated correctional facilities.

In a day of rapid-fire developments governing the now four-day-long series of pickets being conducted statewide by corrections officers, one thing is clear - it is possible - the prison guards could be terminated if their stand-off continues.

This week, an unsanctioned walkout of employees at over half of New York State’s prisons has thrown the correctional system into a lurch. WBFO’s Emyle Watkins was outside Collins Correctional on Wednesday as developments unfolded in a chaotic day for workers, incarcerated people and the state.

Robert Ortt, himself a National Guard veteran, is among those questioning Hochul’s proposed action to deploy members of the National Guard to aid those corrections officers still on duty. The move, Ortt says, could be counter-protective and have an adverse effect. At the very least, it will strain already frayed relations between the corrections officers and the Hochul administration.