Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul addressed the consent award to end work stoppage at state correctional facilities. Last night, mediator Martin Scheinman released a statement outlining the terms agreed to by DOCCS and NYSCOPBA.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 I'd like to make a statement about the situation with our Department of Corrections and the ongoing unauthorized prison strike. Throughout this entire crisis, my top priority has been public safety. The safety of the incarcerated population, the safety of the workers there, the safety of the correction officers and the safety of the community.

Every single decision we have made has gone through that lens of what's best and what's safest for these communities. And I deployed every single resource to deal with this crisis, mobilizing the National Guard. And let me say how grateful I am to the National Guard. We have National Guardsmen in Guantanamo Bay, on battlefields, we have them in Greenland, on really important missions — but right now they've been pulled out of protecting critical assets, even our airports and subway systems, to have to be up here to deal with this situation. I'm grateful they have made that sacrifice.

We also wanted to bring together people for mediation. The union representing the correction officers requested a mediator — requested a specific individual — and that person has been working really hard, and I appreciate his work as well: Mediator Marty Scheinman. And working with him, we've reached a consent award. Now this addresses many, many of the concerns raised by the correction officers. And I'll go through them.

This will put the conditions back on safe operations. It respects the rights of incarcerated individuals and it prevents future unsanctioned work stoppages. We also share the goal with the union that 24-hour work shifts are too long. I understand this. These individuals work in tough, tough conditions. I know that, and I appreciate it. This is a lot of time away from their families. There's a lot of unpredictability. This is not an ideal situation. No one wants this. And we want to make sure that we are striving toward the goal of eliminating those shifts. This will take some time. Our ranks are down. We have many, many people out on workers comp on any given day. We need to get people back to work. We need to hire more people, and we're going to continue toward those goals.

So this agreement that we came together with last evening, represents our commitment to creating safer work environments, which the correction officers absolutely deserve, ensures proper staffing and management of facilities and creates a framework going forward to address concerns as they arise.

This resolution is just the beginning. We want to continue addressing systemic issues and make sure that the entire environment is safe for everyone involved, and protect the staff and incarcerated individuals. Now I have a lot of respect for the correction officers who dedicate themselves and their lives to public safety.

This is a critical, critical function for all of us, and I’m grateful for those who have remained at work. And looking forward to the return of others who have taken the position they have over the last number of days. But we want them back at work and we hope that they will look very seriously at what, I believe, is a real win for the correction officers.

So, I appreciate everybody involved.