New York Correctional Officers Sue Over Solitary Confinement
In March of this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new law that put limits on solitary confinement for inmates in New York correctional facilities. Members of the correctional facility unions are fighting back against the new law, and they are suing to overturn it.
The Humane Alternatives to Solitary Confinement Act reduces the amount of time that an inmate can spend in solitary confinement in correctional facilities. The maximum amount of time that an inmate can spend in isolation has been limited to 15 days. Inmates between the ages of 18 and 21 will no longer be allowed to be placed in solitary confinement. The law also expands services available to inmates before they re-enter the general population.
ATTICA â A fake suicide attempt by an inmate last week resulted in injuries to at least four officers at Attica Correctional Facility.
An officer was delivering meals to inmates on May 5 in the Special Housing Unit, according to the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association. He came upon an inmate who said he was suicidal and had wrapped what was described as âan altered bed sheetâ around his neck.
More officers were alerted and arrived at the cell. The inmate was ordered to remove the sheet from his neck and complied.
He began making threats at staff and stating he wanted to fight them, according to NYSCOPBA.
AUBURN â Citing the potential for more violence in prisons, the union representing New York correctional officers is suing to stop the implementation of a solitary confinement reform law Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed in April.Â
The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association filed the lawsuit in federal court on Monday. While the main focus is on stopping the changes to solitary confinement protocols, the union is also accusing the defendants, including Cuomo and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, of civil rights violations. Those allegations stem from injuries sustained by individual plaintiffs â correctional officers who were attacked while working in prisons.Â
PUBLISHED 8:29 PM ET May. 10, 2021 PUBLISHED 8:29 PM EDT May. 10, 2021
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The union that represents correctional officers in New York filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state and the Department of Corrections in an effort to overturn legislation that limits the use of solitary confinement in prisons.
“If it wasn t for someone hearing my screams, I don t know how this situation would have turned out,” corrections officer Hayes said, detailing an attack she experienced last year while working in a prison. “I was viciously attacked. The HALT bill is designed to help the most violent incarcerated individuals. The HALT bill is also designed to hurt those who protect and serve the state of New York.”
NEW YORK NOW – A union representing correction officers in New York filed a federal lawsuit Monday to overturn the Humane Alternatives to Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT, a new law passed in March to limit the use of solitary confinement in state prisons.
The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, or NYSCOPBA, claimed in the suit that the new law violates the federal civil rights of its members.
NYSCOPBA President Mike Powers speaks to reporters in Albany on Monday, May 10, 2021. Credit: New York NOW
The lawsuit is hinged on the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which the union argues should guarantee public employees, like their members, due process to be free from dangerous conditions created by the state.