AUBURN, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — An inmate at an upstate New York facility died early Saturday, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced, as an illegal guard strike at prisons across the state hit its seventh day.
Jonathan Grant was pronounced dead at the Auburn Correctional Facility, located in the Finger Lakes region, just after 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Prison officials said that Grant was found unresponsive in his cell, at which time facility security, medical staff and a National Guard member began performing life-saving measures including CPR. Narcan was also administered.
Upon arrival, local EMTs took over caring for Grant. He was pronounced dead by a responding paramedic.
Grant’s cause of death was not immediately clear on Sunday, and it will be determined and released by the Cayuga County Medical Examiner’s Office in accordance with county laws.
Any deaths that appear to be because of anything other than natural causes or known medical conditions are investigated by New York State Police and the DOCCS’ Office of Special Investigations, officials said. All deaths in any state facility are reviewed by the State Commission of Correction.
Grant had been incarcerated by the state since August 2011. He was serving a sentence of 34-40 years after being convicted of first-degree rape and first-degree burglary, crimes he committed in Brooklyn.
At least 4,500 National Guardsmen were deployed by Gov. Kathy Hochul this week to secure state prisons in light of the illegal strike that began Monday and is affecting almost every New York state prison.
A state judge issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday requiring all correction officers return back to work immediately, but the strike continued.
“This action is undermining the safety of COs currently on the job, the incarcerated population, and the dozens of communities where prisons are located,” the DOCCS said in a statement Saturday.
The mediation process between the DOCCS and New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association regarding safety and recruitment began Friday. Mediation is ongoing and is being led by the benevolent association’s preferred mediator,.
Guards that continue to work in facilities are receiving a temporary increased overtime pay rate, and immunity from discipline has been granted to those who walk off picket lines and return to work, prison officials said.
Those that continue the work stoppage will be considered AWOL, be docked pay for every day on strike and as a result of their status, lose their state-sponsored health insurance. Striking workers will face administrative penalties and department discipline for violating the state’s Taylor Law—a labor relations statute covering most public employees—and the judge’s order.
“Because of the Taylor Law, our union cannot support a strike, legally,” Israel Sanchez, who is on the picket line, told 1010 WINS. “The state and the courts would bankrupt our union if they stood with us and spoke out about everything that’s going on in there.”
The last time DOCCS correction officers went on strike was in 1979 when a 16-day walkout led to the union being hit with fines of more than $2.5 million. The union executive director was sent to jail for 30 days.
Concerns of the striking guards include a memo released by Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III stating that due to persistent staff shortages the department would have to work with a smaller workforce, and specific measures in the HALT law, which limits time inmates can spend in solitary confinement while banning it entirely for some groups.
“The catalyst was when the commissioner put out that memo letting staff know that 70% was the new 100%, in other words, we’re going to be working 30% short in every prison in the state,” Sanchez told 1010 WINS.