As you likely are aware by now, state prisons in New York have fallen into crisis over the past week.
Last Monday, in an action uncoordinated with the union, officers at two upstate prisons walked off the job. The wildcat strike quickly spread across the system, entirely shutting down one prison after another statewide. College and every activity in the prisons is completely on pause. The National Guard was deployed in many facilities last week. Authorities in many of them are limiting activity to distribution of food and medicine.
The work stoppage comes in the midst of a genuine staffing crisis for the prison system here in New York. For BPI students – many of whom were working through college while in prison during COVID lockdowns, then unpredictable staffing shortages, and now this unprecedented shutdown – the scale of the distraction and the discouragement is extraordinary.
As the pause wears on, our team is working to be prepared to get back in, return to work, and salvage most or all of the semester with plans for graduations this spring. Unfortunately, after all the unpredictability of the past five years, we now have experience contending with these hurdles.
Nationwide, prison systems are undergoing profound transformation. BPI, its students, and alumni, are working to ensure that genuine, transformative education lies at the heart of whatever comes next. As far as we’ve come, the work we do now is more important than ever before.
We will keep you updated as events progress. In the meantime, thank you for your kind concern and wishes of support. Everyone will get through this safely as long as we stick together.
