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For incarcerated individuals at Auburn Correctional Facility, the ongoing correction officer strike is affecting their routines and ability to access services, such as medical care. 

Ë®¹ûÅÉAV interviewed or received messages from inmates and their family members. We agreed not to publish their names due to fear of retaliation. 

One inmate said he has an infection, but is unable to receive treatment because of the strike. His mother, who was also on the call, said she is concerned about his safety. He has two years left on his prison sentence. 

"I just want my son home," she said. 

The wife of another inmate at Auburn Correctional Facility learned of the strike after arriving at the prison. She planned to visit her husband, but visitation was canceled due to the work stoppage. 

She told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV that they have been able to communicate — inmates have access to tablets, so they can make phone calls or send messages to family members. He told her that inmates were served breakfast and lunch Tuesday, but did not receive dinner. 

There are also concerns among families about inmates lacking access to medication and other essentials, she said.

Despite what's happening to her husband, she agreed the officers "need better working conditions."

"I've seen officers dozing off while I'm on a visit with my husband," she said. "The hours are insane and the pay is just not worth it — it's the benefits that makes the job appealing." 

Similar conditions exist at other prisons where correction officers are on strike. In a message provided to Ë®¹ûÅÉAV, an inmate at Elmira Correctional Facility said they have been allowed out of their cells for a one-hour recreation period and they lack access to certain supplies, including soap and toothpaste. He also alleges that the prison is serving food that is expired. 

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision did not respond to Ë®¹ûÅÉAV's request for comment, including a question about how the strike is affecting services at prisons. 

The Center for Community Alternatives, an advocacy group for incarcerated individuals, criticized DOCCS for canceling visitation at Auburn and other prisons amid the correction officer strike. 

Thomas Gant, a community organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives, urged the department to reinstate visitation rights and provide "basic necessities" to the incarcerated population. 

"The cancellation of visits and the current humanitarian crisis is an unacceptable violation of basic human rights," said Gant, who blasted the strike and correction officers "who abandoned their posts in a deliberate attempt to sabotage reforms designed to protect incarcerated people from abuse." 

One of the correction officers' demands is the repeal of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT. The law limits the use of solitary confinement in prisons. Officers say the law has led to increased violence in prisons. 

A judge ordered correction officers to end their strike, citing state law prohibiting public employee strikes. But the strike continues Thursday. Correction officers gathered outside Auburn Correctional Facility for the third day of their work stoppage. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul has activated the National Guard to provide security at Auburn and other correctional facilities. The National Guard began arriving at the prison on Wednesday. 

Hochul released a message Wednesday asking the correction officers to end their strike and return to work. The state has retained a mediator to work with correction officers on ending the protest.