Restricts the use of segregated confinement and creates alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options; limits the length of time a person may be in segregated confinement and excludes certain persons from being placed in segregated confinement.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4401
SPONSOR: Aubry (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the correction law, in relation to
restricting the use of segregated confinement and creating alternative
therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options
PURPOSE:
This bill will be known as the "Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Soli-
tary Confinement" Act (the HALT Solitary Confinement Act.)
This bill would limit the time an inmate can spend in segregated
confinement, end the segregated confinement of vulnerable people,
restrict the criteria that can result in such confinement, improve
conditions of confinement, and create more humane and effective alterna-
tives to such confinement.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 states the purpose of the bill.
Section 2 clarifies that the bill's provisions apply to all types and
locations of segregated confinement.
Section 3 defines "special populations"; "emergency", "short-term" and
"extended segregated confinement"; and "residential rehabilitation
units".
Section 4g prohibits segregation of vulnerable groups ("special popu-
lations"), including young and elderly people, people with physical or
mental disabilities, pregnant women, new mothers, and members of the
LGBTI community.
Section 4h places a limit of 15 consecutive days and a limit of 20 total
days in a 60 day period on the amount of time any person can spend in
segregated confinement, and requires that beyond those limits all
persons must be released or sent to a separate secure residential reha-
bilitation unit (RRU).
Section 4ii enhances conditions in segregated confinement, including
additional out-of-cell time, congregate recreation, access to essential
services, and bans on orders depriving basic necessities, including
restricted diets. It also provides for new RRUs as a more humane and
effective alternative that provide meaningful - human contact and thera-
peutic, trauma-informed, and rehabilitative programs aimed at addressing
underlying causes of behavior.
Section 4j restricts the criteria for segregated confinement beyond
three days or RRUs to more serious acts of physical injury, forced sexu-
al acts, extortion, coercion, inciting serious disturbance, procuring
deadly weapons or dangerous contraband, or escape. It allows for segre-
gated confinement of three days for department rule violations, and
24-hour emergency confinement if necessary. It prohibits segregated
confinement for purposes of protective custody and requires that any
protective custody unit at a minimum meet the standards for RRUs.
Section 4k enhances procedural protections for placement in segregated
confinement including allowing for representation, and assessments for
determining whether someone is a member of a "special population" prior
to segregation.
Section 41 creates mechanisms for periodic review and release from an
RRU based on a resident's progress and acts, expiration of a discipli-
nary sentence, expiration of a one-year limit, or independent outside
review after one year in an RRU.
Section 4m requires training for RRU staff and hearing officers and
Section 4n requires public reporting on the use of segregation and RRUs.
Sections 5 and 6 require oversight over implementation of the bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill aims to make New York's prison and jail practices more humane
and effective. The bill limits the length of time anyone can spend in
segregated confinement, restricts the criteria that can result in such
confinement, provides additional procedural protections prior to such
confinement, and exempts certain vulnerable groups. The bill also
provides an alternative mechanism for working with people who engage in
serious violence or other problematic behavior that involves - not
deprivation - but therapeutic and rehabilitative support and programs.
Segregated confinement is inhumane and ineffective. Studies have long
and consistently found that subjecting people to segregated confinement
for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day without meaningful human
contact, programming, or therapy often causes deep and permanent psycho-
logical, physical, developmental, and social harm. This harm not only
violates common values of decency, but also is counterproductive because
people often have more difficulty complying with prison rules after
being placed in segregated confinement. Segregated confinement can be
particularly devastating for certain vulnerable people, such as young or
elderly people, pregnant women, and people with disabilities or
addiction or trauma histories; and segregated members of the LGBTI
community are more vulnerable to abuse. Other states have dramatically
reduced the number of people in segregated confinement, and seen posi-
tive benefits in terms of safety and decreased violence.
Despite the tremendous harm caused by massive isolation of thousands of
incarcerated persons, New York prisons and jails currently impose segre-
gated confinement too broadly, routinely, and for too long a period of
time. On any given day, there are nearly 4,000 people, disproportionate-
ly people of color, in state prisons in Special Housing Units (SHU) and
thousands more in other forms of isolation. There are also around a
thousand more people in segregated confinement in jails in New York City
alone. Despite claims that segregated confinement is used in response to
the most violent behavior, five out of six disciplinary infractions that
result in SHU time in New York prisons are for non-violent conduct.
Moreover, people routinely suffer in segregated confinement for months,
years, and even decades in New York.
A growing chorus of individuals, organizations, and policy-makers has
called for a dramatic transformation and curtailment of the use of
segregated confinement, The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
concluded that solitary confinement can amount to torture and recom-
mended abolishing its use beyond 15 days and prohibiting any use of
solitary for vulnerable groups or purposes of punishment. The New York
Civil Liberties Union and others have issued reports documenting the
arbitrary and unjustified use of segregated confinement in New York and
the negative impacts its use has on incarcerated persons, staff, and
safety in our prisons and communities. The New York State Bar Associ-
ation has called upon the state and city corrections departments to
profoundly restrict the use of segregated confinement, end segregated
confinement beyond 15 days, adopt stringent criteria for any separation,
and ensure any separation is for the briefest period and in the least
restrictive conditions practicable. This bill takes up the growing call
to limit segregated confinement and provide more humane and effective
alternatives.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.8588-A was amended and recommitted to correction in 2014.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act will take effect immediately.
