N.Y. Prisons Loosen Solitary Confinement Rules as Wildcat Strikes Spread

New York Times

20-02-2025

Restrictions on solitary confinement in New York State prisons were suspended Thursday and visits were canceled as corrections officers continued wildcat strikes despite a judge's order.
The walkouts had spread to 41 of the state's 42 prisons by Thursday afternoon. News cameras captured images of National Guard troops descending in helicopters and Humvees to replace corrections officers, who say they are protesting forced overtime and dangerous conditions.
Daniel Martuscello III, the state corrections commissioner, said in a memo that to control the situation inside the facilities he was canceling 'specific elements' of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, known as HALT. His memo, titled 'Path to Restoring Workforce,' did not cite which parts of the law were being paused.
'We are suspending the elements of HALT that cannot safely be operationalized under a prison-wide state of emergency until we can safety operate the prisons,' he wrote.
He said that the law, signed by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2021, allowed suspensions under 'exceptional circumstances' when there is 'a significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other incarcerated persons, staff or the facility.'
The move alarmed groups that support inmates' rights, whose members also learned on Thursday that officials at the state corrections department had canceled visits at all prisons 'until further notice.'
Inmates have complained that they are locked in their cells, with some unable to get food or medicine, said Antony Gemmell, supervising attorney for the Prisoners' Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society.
'It's obviously endangering our clients in really serious ways,' he said.
Mr. Gemmell said prison officials had no authority to suspend parts of the law.
'There were exceptions, very limited exceptions created,' he said. 'But it's not acceptable for the commissioner to just say, 'Well, we're just suspending indeterminate provisions of HALT for indeterminate reasons.''
Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the corrections department, said the department was 'focused on keeping everyone inside the correctional facilities safe and secure, as well as providing essential services including food and medicine.'
Gov. Kathy Hochul has deployed 4,500 National Guard troops to staff the prisons.
On Thursday, Maggie Halley, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Ms. Hochul 'supports Commissioner Martuscello's efforts to return striking correction officers back to work.'
'Our administration will continue doing everything in our power to keep correctional facilities safe for all who enter, and is continually working to ensure our correction officers receive the pay and working conditions they deserve,' Ms. Halley said.
The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, which represents guards, did not sanction the strikes, which are the first widespread work stoppage in New York's prisons since a 16-day walkout in 1979.
On Tuesday, a New York judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring officers to return to work immediately. At 4 p.m. Thursday, the union released a letter from a lawyer who had agreed to convene union and prison officials for three days of discussions starting next Tuesday.
'This mediation process can help the parties open a constructive dialogue,' wrote the lawyer, Martin F. Scheinman.
The walkouts come as the correctional system faces scrutiny after officers at an upstate prison were charged with murder in the beating death of a 43-year-old inmate — and as guards' anger at management has grown.
The Times Union of Albany reported this month that the union had issued a vote of 'no confidence' in Mr. Martuscello, who last week told superintendents that the department would have to get by with 70 percent of its work force because of persistent staff shortages.
The wildcat strikes began Monday when officers assigned to the Collins and Elmira lockups set up picket lines. The strikers, whose three-year contract runs through March 2026, refuse to accept the smaller work force as permanent.
On Thursday, Mr. Martuscello rescinded his earlier memorandum.
Another major point of contention is the HALT law, which limits stints in solitary to 15 consecutive days. The measure also bars solitary confinement for several groups, including minors and people with certain disabilities.
But lawyers for inmates say the requirements have been routinely ignored. In May 2024 the Legal Aid Society and others filed a class-action lawsuit accusing prisons of holding mentally ill and disabled people in isolation, in violation of the law.
The following month, a judge ordered the state to comply with the law's requirement that officials provide a justification for extended solitary confinement.
Many corrections officers have said that HALT has made their jobs more dangerous and difficult and have called for its repeal. Supporters of the law said they believed that was the strikes' ultimate goal.
'This crisis was not caused by incarcerated people,' said Thomas Gant, an organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives. 'It was manufactured by a group of rogue corrections officers who abandoned their posts in a deliberate attempt to sabotage reforms designed to protect incarcerated people from abuse.'