As New York’s prisons are in crisis due to a statewide strike by prison staff, contact with the facilities has been unusually restricted. The Journal made repeated attempts to speak to inmates, staff, and administrators at Shawangunk Correctional Facility, all of which were denied. The governor’s office was of no assistance, and a representative from the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) accused the reporter of being an "inmate advocate" rather than a journalist.

On March 9, the Journal finally made contact with two incarcerated individuals at Wyoming Correctional Facility, a medium-security state men's prison in New York that’s been part of the strike.

Anthony Jacobs, 66, is from Gardiner. He was arrested in New Paltz back in 2005. His family is from Gardiner. He has been incarcerated for two decades, in both maximum and medium-security facilities. He’s currently in medium-security, at Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica – next door to the more famous, and infamous, Attica Correctional Facility.

Wyoming went on strike with most of the rest of the state’s prisons, and National Guard troops were brought in to fill the ranks while correctional officers protested outside. Jacobs described the recent deployment of the National Guard as a significant change, with soldiers escorting inmates and delivering meals and commissary items. Wyoming is a dorm-based facility, and Jacobs reported that his dorm holds 50 men. They share four bathroom stalls, urinals, and sinks. There are no doors on the stalls.

The strike centers around a lack of resources and short-staffing which guards say was exacerbated by the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act, which put limits on solitary confinement in state correctional facilities. Guards say that the act made prisons less safe, which has been borne out by rising rates of both inmate-on-staff and inmate-on-inmate violence. That act was suspended for the duration of the strike, so that inmates could be put on lockdown.

Jacobs supports the act, stating that it curtails officer abuse of power and the severe consequences of extended solitary confinement.

“The HALT Act is a good thing,” he said, recalling his own experience of 60 days in "key lock," a form of isolation that restricted access to tablets, television, reading, exercise, and other activities.

Jacobs, who is preparing for release and will reside at the Exodus House in Poughkeepsie, expressed both excitement and anxiety about re-entering society. He voiced concerns about inflation, high rents, rising food prices, and finding employment. He also shared his personal transformation, stating, “From day one, the transformation for me has been positive. I spent six, seven years at Sing Sing and now would like to become a preacher. I used to be an alcoholic and no longer have those temptations.”

We also spoke to Thomas Parsley, 46. Parsley comes from Queens and identifies as nonbinary. They reported a stark contrast between their experiences at Rikers Island, Collins Correctional Facility, and Wyoming Correctional Facility. Parsley described Collins, where the strike began, as “a s--tshow as far as safety of inmates” and recounted experiencing sexual harassment and bullying, including an incident of sexual assault they allege happened in the shower area while an officer was asleep.

Parsley, who is serving time for criminal sale of a firearm, said that the National Guard have been more humane than correctional officers. They expressed ongoing safety concerns, as they are the only nonbinary individual in a dorm with 50 other inmates. This concern results in them spending a large portion of their time in the dorm or at the library, where they work. Parsley said a number of vulnerable individuals reside in their dorm, and expressed concern for their safety.

The strike appears to be coming to some kind of conclusion. The state fired 2,000 guards on March 10 for failing to show up to work, and declared that enough had stepped off the picket line for the facilities to operate again. Both Jacobs and Parsley said that the National Guard has now left Wyoming.

However, one of the major causes of the strike was short-staffing, with 2,000 job vacancies in the prison system leading to routine 24-to-36-hour shifts for prison employees. Another 2,000 vacancies piled on top of that suggests that, while the state may have declared the situation back to normal, any real relief from overwork and chronic disfunction is a long way off for staff and inmates in New York’s prisons.