EXCLUSIVE — A New York lawmaker is calling on the state to repeal the HALT Act, a controversial law at the center of the recent prison guard strike, which ended this week after Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) fired 2,000 correctional officers and banned them from holding state jobs.

Hochul deployed the National Guard as she has weighed transferring prisoners out of state to address the Empire State’s mounting prison guard shortage. She also closed two prisons last year and asked the legislature to give her the ability to close up to five over the next year.