COXSACKIE, N.Y. (AP) — A wildcat strike by guards at New York’s prisons, now in its second week, is fueling fears over deteriorating conditions behind bars.

A 61-year-old inmate died over the weekend at one of the prisons where National Guard troops were deployed to replace corrections officers who walked off the job. Jonathon Grant, who was serving a 34-to-40-year sentence for rape and burglary, was pronounced dead Saturday after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Auburn Correctional Facility, state officials said.

It wasn’t clear if the prison’s staffing situation was a factor in Grant’s death. State officials didn’t immediately release information about his health history. A medical examiner will determine the cause of death, state prison system spokesperson Thomas Mailey said.

The public defender’s office that provided legal counsel to Grant expressed concern that the walkout by guards had disrupted inmate medical care.

“Since the strike began, Legal Aid has received dozens of reports from incarcerated clients across New York State about their inability to access critical medical care and essential prescriptions, including blood pressure medication and necessary insulin shots,” said The Legal Aid Society. “This tragic incident highlights the dangers posed by the ongoing strike, as staff in over 40 prisons refuse to fulfill their duties.”

Guards at state prisons began walking out a week ago in a job action that was not approved by union officials, who acknowledge that it violates a state law barring strikes by most public employees.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, deployed National Guard troops to prisons to maintain order. A judge ordered the striking officers back to work last week, but the workers didn’t budge.

Isaiah Waters, an inmate at Woodbourne Correctional Facility, said in a phone interview that his cell block has been on lockdown for a week, with four National Guard officers assigned to his 57-person dorm, along with members of a correctional emergency response unit.

“The tension is building up. I’ve never seen it like this,” said Waters, who is 37 and has been incarcerated since he was 19. “There’s no programming, no religious services, you can’t send mail or get visitors. We’re not used to being around each other for this many hours day in and day out.”

Waters said he expected the situation to deteriorate. “They want the atmosphere to become violent to prove a point about staffing,” he said. “It’s like we’re caught in the crossfire between the union and their gripes with Albany and the administrators.”

Mediation between state officials and the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, which represents the guards, began Monday. Prison workers are asking for better pay, better staffing, improved safety measures and a return to the use of solitary confinement as a disciplinary tool.

More than 100 corrections officers and supporters protested Monday near the Coxsackie Correctional Facility in the Hudson Valley, carrying signs reading “NYS Failed Us” and “Wildcats.” Passing car and truck drivers honked in support.

The picketing guards would not give their names to reporters, but retired corrections officer Ed Ventre said the strike was mostly about unsafe working conditions.

“No one has ever seen the amount of violence and disregard for the safety of the officers, not to mention the fact that staffing is at an all-time low and officers are being mandated to work 24 hours straight with the threat of termination should they leave the prison,” Ventre said.

Assaults on prison system staff rose from 1,043 in all of 2019 to 1,938 through the first 11 months of 2024, according to state officials. Assaults on incarcerated people more than doubled, from 1,267 in 2019 to 2,697 for the first 11 months of 2024.

Six guards were charged with murder last week in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by a group of officers in December at the Marcy Correctional Facility.

The last of the six to be brought to court, Nicholas Kieffer, was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty, prosecutors said. His lawyer, David Longeretta, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

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Attanasio and Offenhartz reported from New York.