A group of 55 state legislators sent a letter Tuesday to the state prisons commissioner urging him to discontinue the post-strike suspension of elements of the HALT law limiting the use of solitary confinement.
In the period since the prison guards strike ended in March, the legislators claim in the letter to the commissioner, Daniel Martuscello, they have received “numerous reports — from multiple government agencies, the courts, reporters, and an independent watchdog — of systemic violations of the HALT Law.”
“Nothing in the HALT Law allows the department to suspend portions of the law,” the letter states. “DOCCS does not have the authority to unilaterally suspend part of a duly enacted law and attempts to do so infringe on the separation of powers and our legislative authority.”
In a statement, Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the Department Corrections and Community Supervision denied the HALT Act — Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement — was paused and added the HALT law and state correction law allows the agency to suspend solitary confinement rules during an ongoing state of emergency.
“The programming elements of the HALT Act were paused for 90 days,” Mailey said in the statement.
“During that time periodic reviews have been and will be conducted. At the end of the 90 days, a review of staffing and operations in the 42 DOCCS correctional facilities will take place and a decision will be made regarding the programming elements.”
June 19, 2019: Hell Hole
The 90-day period ends in June. Under HALT, the duration of solitary confinement is capped at 15 days and prisoners must be provided programming outside of their cells.
When the strike ended, Gov. Hochul fired roughly 2,000 guards who had refused to return to work, exacerbating a staffing shortfall that the state claims has limited HALT-required programming.
A second consequence of the staffing shortfall has been, according to city officials, that the transfers of people held in the city jails who serve state prison sentences has been delayed, contributing to a rise in the jail population.
On Wednesday, activists will hold a rally in Albany urging the Legislature to increase the number of members of the state Commission on Correction from three to nine.
The bill, known in the Senate as S856 and the Assembly as A2315, would also require the new members include experts in public health and behavioral health care, a public defender, and someone who previously served prison time.
Yonah Zeitz of the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice cited the indictments of prison guards in the killings of prisoners Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi as motivation for the reform.
“This is a critical moment to address correctional accountability and oversight,” he said. “For more than 20 years the SCOC has consistently failed to meet its responsibility” to ensure jails and prisons are safe, stable and humane.
Ten guards were charged in the Dec. 9 beating death of Brooks, 43, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Marcy, N.Y.
Nantwi, 22, was beaten to death March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility located a half-mile from Marcy CF. Ten correction officers were charged in that case.
