Report on legislation restricting the use of segregated confinement in New York prisons

SUMMARY

The Corrections & Community Reentry Committee and International Human Rights Committee issued a report supporting the Humane Alternatives to Long Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act. This proposed state legislation would amend the correction law to restrict substantially the use of isolated confinement in our state prisons and local jails and would mandate the creation of alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options to address the behavior of incarcerated persons who participate in disruptive or dangerous behavior. The committees’ support for the bill is based upon a review of reports by experts and multiple legal and community-based organizations which conclude that the use of isolation in state prisons and local jails has had a devastating impact on people placed in isolation without substantially improving safety within these institutions or promoting public safety.

For more information, read the City Bar’s updated 2020 report on this issue.

BILL INFORMATION

A.8588-A (AM Aubry) / S.6466-A (Sen. Perkins) – restricts the use of segregated confinement and creates alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options (NYS 2014)

OUTCOME

Signed by the Governor, Chp. 93, Approval Memo 4 – March 31, 2021