New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Wednesday that will end prolonged solitary confinement in state correctional facilities.
The HALT Solitary Confinement Act will limit the use of segregated confinement for incarcerated people to 15 consecutive days, according to the legislation. It will take effect in one year.
Segregated confinement for more than 15 days is considered torture, according to the Nelson Mandela Rules that were adopted by the United Nations. Generations of incarcerated men and women have been subjected to inhumane punishment in segregated confinement with little to no human interaction for extended periods of time and many experience emotional and physical trauma that can last for years, Cuomo said in a statement.
arrow The inside of a solitary confinement cell on Rikers Island in 2017. Bebeto Matthews/AP/Shutterstock
On Wednesday night, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that will limit the use of solitary confinement for people locked up in New York s prisons.
The law s passage is a significant victory for criminal justice reform advocates, who have pointed to the deaths of New Yorkers like Kalief Browder and Layleen Polanco as evidence that solitary confinement is cruel and immoral.
Currently, there are more than 1,600 people being held in solitary across the state, some of them for decades. The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, which passed the State Senate and the Assembly last month, prohibits officials from placing someone in solitary confinement for more than 15 days, which is the United Nations threshold for torture.