JUST demands enforcement of HALT Law during Tuesday rally
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – As the debate over a New York law restricting the use of solitary confinement in state prisons and county jails rages across the state, a group dedicated to incarceration reform argues that the controversial law has never been fully implemented.
Members of Justice and Unity in the Southern Tier, or JUST, held a rally outside of the Broome County Office Building this afternoon.
JUST blasted the state prison corrections officers who have been striking recently to protest unsafe working conditions.
The activists claim the CO's have turned New York's HALT Law into a bogus boogey man as they seek to avoid accountability.
HALT, which stands for Humane Alternatives to Long Term solitary confinement, was passed in 2022 and severely limits the circumstances in which an inmate can be held in isolation.
JUST founding member Bill Martin accuses Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar of skirting the law.
'We have three kids under the age of 21 who have gone into isolation. The HALT Law says you can't do that. We have people who are disabled, who are mentally distressed who go into solitary in one form or another. They think up new names, it's now called 'keep lock,' it's called 'D block,' it's called 'medical.' All these things are basic forms of solitary and torture of people in the Broome County Jail,' said Martin.
Martin also alleges that inmates are not allowed to file grievances as they should.
Sheriff Akshar pushed back forcefully against the allegations calling JUST tone-deaf radical activists who spread lies and misinformation about conditions and procedures at the jail.
Akshar released documentation that he says shows there were no instances of solitary confinement inside the jail last year and that over 200 grievances have been filed by inmates over the past two years, only one of which was deemed credible.
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