Groups Call For Justice for Two Murdered Inmates

Of the many rallies at the state Capitol on Tuesday March 4, two contrasting ones stand out. The first involved hundreds of striking correction officers and their supporters standing in front of the capitol calling for better working conditions in the state’s prisons, starting with more staffing, less mandatory overtime, and the repeal of the HALT act which restricts the use of solitary confinement. While the Governor thought that a deal to end the illegal wildcat strike had been reached by March 7, including reviewing potential changes to the Halt Act, the union blocked it on the grounds that they had not been consulted. On Tuesday inside the Capitol, prison reform advocates called to enact several bills in response to the recent killings of two inmates by upstate correction officers – Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi. We hear from several state legislators – Assemblymembers Latrice Walker, Eddie Gibbs, and Anne Kelles, and Senator Julia Salazar. This was Mark Dunlea for the Hudson Mohawk Magazine.