New York Lowers Prison Guard Hiring Age To 18 While Struggling To Hire Correction Officers

Other states such as Florida, Maine and New Jersey permit 18-year-olds to be hired as correctional officers.

Spectrum News 1 reports that the new minimum hiring age for prison guards in New York is set to be lowered from 21 to 18 to boost correction officer hiring status after a strike resulted in over 2,000 guards being fired.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to sign the measure, approved by state lawmakers in early May 2025, into law as other states, such as Florida, Maine, and New Jersey, permit 18-year-olds to be hired as correctional officers.

The law will include some provisions for hiring younger guards, including policies prohibiting them from obtaining or using firearms or transporting inmates outside prisons. Hired guards must also be supervised when performing “contact roles” with inmates during the first year and a half of employment.

The shortage has resulted in the state corrections commissioner ordering the early release of some inmates, limited to inmates convicted of minor crimes and already granted release for the near future. Other inmates convicted of sex crimes, violent felonies, or serious felonies, including murder, terrorism, and arson, were not on the eligibility list for early release.

According to NPR, younger guards could be hired after dozens of guards walked off the job in February 2025 during a strike protesting poor working conditions. Hochul deployed the state National Guard to prisons to maintain operations during the strike. However, more than 2,000 guards who refused to return to work were terminated when the strike ended, even with the state and guards’ union reaching a deal.

Hochul even banned the terminated guards from holding other state jobs.

Newly hired guards will join the 75% of guards who decided to return to their posts after New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Commissioner Dan Martuscello admitted that things need to change inside prison walls. ‘We’ll start with a high-energy recruitment campaign moving forward with a clear focus on stabilizing and resuming operations while ensuring safety and security in our facilities,” he said.

Prison officials made concessions to get officers back to work, including an overtime pay rate 2.5 times the hourly rate for 30 days and a promise that officers would escape departmental discipline if they returned.

The strike highlighted how tense work culture was for corrections officers as they felt the state didn’t do enough amid the increased violence and scrutiny within some state prisons. The killing of New York state prison inmate Robert Brooks made headlines after 10 former correctional officers were seen on video beating him while handcuffed.

In addition to Brooks, fellow inmate Messiah Nantwi succumbed to injuries sustained by a series of alleged beatings by guards. Ten guards were charged in Nantwi’s death, including two with murder charges.