New York’s 2022 HALT Act was a common-sense measure to end prolonged solitary confinement –– which the U.N. has described as torture –– in prisons and jails. Under pressure from corrections workers who went on strike in February, and buoyed by a tide of misinformation, Governor Hochul has rolled back many of the Act’s protections, a move that will leave New York prisons no safer for incarcerated people or staff than they were before.
The corrections officers’ union claims that the HALT Act hamstrung their ability to put dangerous people in solitary confinement, creating unsafe working conditions. There’s one problem with that argument: New York state prisons never fully implemented HALT in the first place.
In 2024, New York’s Office of the Inspector General found that 40% of people in solitary confinement were spending more time there than the new law allowed. A June 2024 court ruling also found that people were routinely held in solitary hundreds of days past the legal time limit.
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About a quarter of the time, according to the Inspector General, people in solitary confinement were held without sufficient evidence of having committed an offense severe enough to land them there. New York prisons have also continued to throw people with disabilities in solitary confinement, a violation of the HALT Act.
How is it possible that a law never fully put in place made corrections workers “desperate” enough to strike?
The irony is that by bullying the Governor into rolling back a law they didn’t like, corrections officers may be shooting themselves in the foot. That’s because solitary confinement doesn’t prevent harm; it creates it. Devastating the mental and physical health of incarcerated people, who often already have severe mental support needs, makes the prison environment less safe. In fact, research has repeatedly shown that reducing the use of solitary confinement significantly reduces prison violence.
To be sure, prison staff sometimes face unsafe conditions. The union is also correct that disorderly behavior has increased in New York prisons (though the vast majority of incidents recorded as “assaults” result in no injury to a staff person). But the HALT Act has nothing to do with this trend –– in fact, the rise in agency-reported assaults started 10 years before the law was even passed. Reforms to solitary confinement could have been a step toward both a more humane system and a safer working environment, had prisons bothered to implement them.
There are other steps the state government can take to make all state prisons safer. First and foremost, the state must be steadfast in its resolution to close more prisons, even over the objections of special interests like the union. New York has several prisons that are far below capacity –– some only half full –– but all facilities require that the same essential functions be staffed in order to operate securely. That means that even though New York has the single best staff-to-incarcerated-people ratio in the country, its staff are spread out inefficiently across facilities. Keeping under-capacity prisons open is a waste of the agency’s human resources and creates staffing problems at facilities that are full.
The ugly truth is that incarcerated people –– who in New York are still mostly Black and brown, working class folks –– have much less political power than the correctional officers’ union. That means that important reforms to solitary confinement can be quickly and illegally thrown away, while common-sense prison closures can be back-burnered for years just because they threaten the union.
It will take political courage for Governor Hochul to stand up for incarcerated people and reinstate the HALT Act. But it’s the right thing to do, and the sensible way. The problems in New York state prisons –– for incarcerated people and staff –– won’t be solved by recommitting to state-sanctioned torture.
Emmett Sanders is the Policy and Advocacy Associate at the Prison Policy Initiative.
There’s no such thing as solitary confinement in NYS prisons !
You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Ever been in a Special Housing Unit? I have. Had a bid in one before I was unlawfully terminated by the state. Believe me, if that’s torture, sign me up!! Those incarcerated are taken care of better than the ones in general population. I have a whole article written on the detrimental impact of closing prisons. Had 18 years on the job, I definitely am a subject matter expert. You should keep your uneducated opinions to yourself until you have actual facts.
There is no such thing as solitary in NYS. Also I was just posting the other day how an apt in manhattan was $2500, was smaller than a SHU cell, didn’t have its own private bathroom either. Oh they also have to cook and go get their food it’s not catered to them daily. They also have to buy their own tablet and pay for their own internet.
You’re so UNINFORMED ! It’s people like you who need to do two weeks in a prison. Everyone who seems to be an expert have NEVER been inside a prison ! Your arm chairing it . Reading someone else’s opinion and going with it. I’m an EXPERT! Did 26 yrs in DOCS. It’s not the prisons , they were fine until the politicians who have family behind bars , want to help there family have it ALL! The Democratic Party is to blame . They never spent time out back so to speak ! Your paperwork is not true as well. Your uninformed !!!
Emmett Sanders needs to work in a prison to fully understand the dynamics that he writes about. With the limited use of SHU, as caused by the HALT law, the inmates have taken advantage of the limitations that can be imposed on them for breaking the rules while in prison.
Sanders appears like a parent that forgot to be an adult. The experimentation of coddling in the prison system has failed and will only lead to more violence. We can only sit back and laugh at the silliness of allowing the “participation” mentality to deal with something as serious as prison violence. The “everyone gets a trophy” mindset does not work in this setting. Murderers, rapists, con men, thieves will continue to extort and take advantage of the weaker humans around them, even while incarcerated; especially when there is now no way to stop it. The whole thing is very simple – behave and obey the rules. The first people that got scammed were the legislator’s that came up with this silly idea. The second group that have been scammed are the reporters who defend this nonsense without fully knowing the impact.
There is no such solitary confinement in NYS Prisons. Incarcerated person who are threat to security operations or threat to harm other Incarcerated persons, civilian staff and correction officers. That Incarcerated person has to a segregated housing area. The segregated housing area allows for supervison by a correction officer and his/her behavior is reported to other staff persons. In segregated housing area the Incarcerated has all privileges such a shower, recreation, can receive visits from family, attorneys etc. The Incarcerated is seen by nurses, or doctors. The Incarcerated person is transported to outside medical visits, funerals, and court appearances, when there is order produce the Incarcerated to appear in court. The Incarcerated person gets his/ her mail from outside delivered to the segregated housing area. The Incarcerated can receive books to read, while in the segregated area. There big misconception terminology about the halt act. I was a correction officer for 30 years. The Incarcerated person can received packages from home. All packages has to approve by the appointing authority.