New York Democratic leaders reached a budget agreement that includes closing up to three prisons and allocating at least $500 million for National Guard support in prisons. This decision stems from a significant prison strike that highlighted severe staffing shortages. Additionally, the starting age for corrections officers will be lowered from 21 to 18 under certain conditions. However, the implications of these closures and reliance on temporary measures have raised concerns, especially among Republican lawmakers, regarding potential further staffing issues in the prisons.
It's critically important that those solutions don't continue, because that isn't their training, said Assemblymember Anna Kelles, highlighting concerns over the use of National Guard in prisons.
The unlawful strike, which began in February and ended in early March, led to the firing of 2,000 corrections officers, revealing the staffing crisis in New York's prisons.
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