Over the past few years, New York State prison guards have used more force against inmates, claiming that the nature of their jobs has grown more dangerous, especially due to the enactment of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act in 2022.
HALT restricts prison guards from abusing the use and duration of solitary confinement as a punishment. The guards argue that more prisoners who should be in confinement are walking freely and inciting violence.
But there has been a link between HALT and the use of force. Illegal strikes spread across the state, with thousands of officers quitting their jobs.
Prisons plunging into chaos has prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy the National Guard to restore security.
When officers returned to work, many were still frustrated.
“The abuse has been worse since the strike,” Duane Brown, who is serving 30 years to life for murder at the Green Haven Correctional Facility, told The New York Times. He spoke about how guards had beaten him until he lost consciousness.
James Miller, a spokesman for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, denied that officers tortured inmates.
“The reality is that when you are dealing with inmates who attack staff and other inmates and refuse orders to cease, force is necessary to contain the situation and minimize the number of injuries that occur at the hands of inmates,” Miller said according to The New York Times.
Guards and commissioners alike claim that this violence has left them with no choice but to rely on force to re-establish order. But the reality does not align with their position.
The New York Times found that the number of instances when prison staff applied force has been increasing at a notable rate over the past decade. In 2014, the use of force against inmates was reported to be three times a day across the prison system. By 2019, it rose to about seven times a day.
In 2024, it rose to more than 11. Regardless of these figures, the activity levels in prisons are not lining up.
The increase cannot be attributed to the number of prisoners. The prison population has decreased from an average of 53,000 prisoners in 2014 to nearly 33,000 in 2024, according to records from the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision obtained by The New York Times. Attacks on guards also have not been reported as significant.
When prison staff members report using force on an inmate, they can indicate whether the prisoner committed an assault during the incident.
In 2014, there were approximately 1,000 reports filed, with 69% of them indicating assaults. By 2024, the number of reports filed rose to more than 4,000, but only 51% of them indicated assaults.
An investigation by The New York Times revealed thousands of pages of court records and disciplinary data, as well as interviews with former inmates.
There have been over 120 instances in the past decade where guards were using unnecessary force, described as punching prisoners, smashing their fingers between cell doors or waterboarding them while they were handcuffed or restrained.
Prison guards have not exactly been subtle in their cruelty, but commissioners have yet to deliver consequences to the prison staff who are guilty. The New York Times analysis of disciplinary records obtained by the New York Civil Liberties Union shows that even when guards have been formally accused of extreme abuse, they rarely face consequences.
With a lack of surveillance on guard activity and accountability from commissioners and prison guards, the public is left in the dark about the full extent of brutality in state prisons.
Reinforcing surveillance can prevent unnecessary violence against prisoners, but the root of the matter lies in those abusing their authority. Whether because of deep-rooted prejudice, systemic frustration or an erosion of restraints, such conduct is unacceptable and demands urgent reform.
