Jerome Wright, Statewide Organizer with the #HALTsolitary Campaign, released the following statement: “This year, lawmakers in New York heard and heeded the call of survivors of solitary confinement and their families, mental health and medical experts, faith leaders, and community members from every corner of this state and voted with supermajorities to pass the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. This new law will improve safety for incarcerated people and staff, just as curtailment of solitary confinement has done in other systems. HALT must be fully implemented as soon as possible, and no later than its effective date next April. To be clear, any assaults on officers or incarcerated people are unacceptable. The question is how does the state prevent and reduce violence. Simply put, solitary confinement is torture. It’s not only harmful and deadly itself, but also leads to violence as people deteriorate. The HALT Solitary Confinement Act will protect people from the terrible harms of long-term solitary, including severe psychosis and suicide, while still allowing the Department to separate people for extended periods of time in secure environments with therapeutic programming proven to actually address dangerous behaviors. The reality is that HALT doesn’t take effect for a whole year, and the laws and regulations currently in effect, which allow DOCCS to keep people in solitary for months, years, and even decades, have not prevented the violence NYSCOPBA describes, and most New Yorkers agree we need a new and better way forward.”
Correctional Officers Union Suing Cuomo, NY State Over Solitary Confinement Law – May 10, 2021
