New York State’s corrections department is struggling to keep striking officers on the job, as it grapples with the fallout from two high-profile inmate deaths and reports of violence at the hands of its own workers.

A wildcat strike by New York state prison guards stretched into a third week Monday, prompting officials to start firing workers for failing to abide by a deal to end the illegal labor action. The state's homeland security commissioner,

Thousands of corrections officers at dozens of prisons have been protesting working conditions in wildcat strikes across the state.