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State lawmakers approved the measure on Wednesday and Gov. Kathy
Hochul, a Democrat, is expected to sign it into law.
The bill establishes some rules for the younger guards,
including policies that they cannot obtain or use firearms or
transport inmates outside of prisons. They also must be
supervised when performing “contact roles” with inmates during
the first year-and-a-half on the job.
The push to lower the age for correction officers came after
guards walked off the job in February while striking to protest
poor working conditions. Hochul was forced to deploy the state
National Guard to prisons to maintain operations during the
strike.
The governor ended up firing more than 2,000 guards who refused
to return to work after the state and guards' union reached a
deal to end the walkout, which lasted around three weeks. Hochul
has barred the guards who were fired from holding other state
jobs in the future.
The state corrections commissioner has since directed the
department to begin the process of releasing some inmates early
because of a shortage of guards. But the early discharges have
been limited to inmates who were convicted of minor crimes and
were already set for release in the near future. Inmates
convicted of sex crimes, violent felonies or serious felonies
such as murder, terrorism and arson would not be eligible for
early release, the agency said.
The strike came after the high-profile fatal beating of Robert
Brooks at an upstate New York prison in December, which was
recorded on guards' body cameras and led to charges against more
than a dozen people.
Another incarcerated person, Messiah Nantwi, died on March 1
after being injured in a series of beatings by guards, according
to an indictment. Ten guards were charged over Nantwi's death,
including two who were charged with murder.
Some other states, including Florida, Maine and New Jersey,
allow 18-year-olds to become correction officers.
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