Jamestown Community College ceased instruction at the Collins Correctional Facility.

On the heels of a state-wide correction officer strike that recently ended, JCC Vice President of Academic Affairs Jessica Kubiak said Tuesday to the JCC Board of Trustees, the Collins facility, in Cattaraugus County, was hard hit and continues to see difficulties. She said the National Guard was using a JCC classroom, so the semester is lost and can’t be recovered.

“So we knew a few weeks ago that it was very unlikely that we would be able to recover the semester,” Kubiak said. “We were ready to be nimble and flexible and do whatever was possible, but only so much as possible, given the situation. … We most likely will be abandoning the semester.”

Kubiak said the prison-based students will be held harmless in terms of their academic progress, and future options of receiving aid. She said the prison-based program, which started a few years ago, has been successful.

According to sunyjcc.edu, has been an active and receptive partner in creating a safe learning space that has seen growth in student interest. The program began with 10 incarcerated people, and has grown to 30. In order to be accepted into the program, incarcerated individuals must show initiative and consistency in modeling nonviolence and respect in the jail.

“So it’s really heartbreaking, and it’s sort of like a lifeline has been sort of lost,” Kubiak said. “This is absolutely unprecedented. I mean, obviously during the pandemic, when we had to cease instruction, we didn’t cease instruction. We continued instruction. I think this is the only instance that we know of where we’ve not been able to continue instruction through zero fault of the faculty.”

In Chautauqua County, the county jail and Lakeview Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility in Brocton also were affected.

Chautauqua County Sheriff Jim Quattrone said the County Jail was unable to receive some food shipments from the State Department of Corrections.

Commissioner Daniel Martuscello said the weeks long wildcat strike crippled the state’s correctional system, but said enough officers had come back on the job to declare the illegal work stoppage over.

Martuscello said the National Guard would remain in place at prisons in a support position while the department undertakes an aggressive recruiting campaign to attract additional employees. About 10,000 security staff are available to work in prisons across the state, he said, down from about 13,500 before the wildcat strike.

Guards upset over working conditions began illegally walking off the job Feb. 17 at many state prisons, forcing Gov. Kathy Hochul to send National Guard troops in to maintain operations. Inmates have complained about deteriorating conditions behind bars since the walkout. And the death of a 22-year-old man this month at a prison near Utica is being investigated by a special prosecutor.

There has been no indication by JCC officials as to when the program will restart.