By REBECCA McCRAY / HELL GATE
On Monday morning, state correction officers trickled back to work following a three-week-long wildcat strike that affected nearly all of the state’s 42 prisons and caused disruptions in meals, medication distribution, education and rec programming, and effectively confined incarcerated people to their cells for nearly 24 hours a day in some facilities. Over the course of the strike, seven incarcerated people died, including 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi of the Bronx, who was reportedly beaten to death by correction officers who have since been placed on leave.
On Saturday night, the state signed an agreement with the officers’ union, the New York State Correctional and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), which did not authorize the strike. The latest resolution, which was initially rejected by the union and followed an earlier agreement that striking officers rejected, formalizes significant wins for the officers, including suspending provisions of the HALT Act…