The Legal Aid Society has released a report detailing the ongoing and immense damage inflicted upon incarcerated New Yorkers as a result of the unauthorized strike by New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) staff, which lasted for weeks and impacted dozens of upstate prisons.

According to personal accounts from twenty-four New Yorkers incarcerated in prisons affected by the unauthorized work stoppage, conditions in the prisons deteriorated rapidly during the strike, and these facilities continue to be plagued by health, safety, and human rights violations.

“I can’t get out of my cell and I can’t see mental health and it’s really weighing me down,” said a person incarcerated at Coxsackie Correctional Facility. “I feel like I’m deteriorating.”

“I’m hungry every day,” said an incarcerated person housed at Wyoming Correctional Facility. “I don’t feel like people understand how hard this is not just on your body but your mind.”

Legal Aid’s report also includes recommendations that must immediately be taken by DOCCS and State officials in order to prevent further harm. These measures include ensuring that all incarcerated people have unmitigated access to medical and mental health care, as well as a call to expand the use of body-worn cameras and establish comprehensive camera coverage in all prison facilities.

Additionally, the report demands that DOCCS fully comply with the HALT Act and ensure that no incarcerated individual is subjected to the devastating physical and emotional toll that results from extended periods of solitary confinement.

“The reports from incarcerated New Yorkers make it abundantly clear that DOCCS utterly failed in its obligation to keep the people in its custody safe and treat them with dignity during and immediately following the strike,” said Kayla Simpson, an attorney with Legal Aid’s Prisoners’ Rights Project.

“Access to medical care, food, and communication with people outside prison walls are among the most basic needs New York State is required to provide for the people it deprives of liberty, yet DOCCS has been continuously unwilling and unable to do so, to the detriment of the people we serve,” she continued. “As the strike continues to wind down and officers return to their posts, DOCCS must prioritize the safety, health, and dignity of people in custody, and ensure an end to these inhumane conditions.”

Read the full report here.