News / FJP Releases
Fair and Just Prosecution Condemns New York’s Suspension of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act
March 21, 2025 (Washington, D.C.) — New York State prisons and jails have been systemically violating the HALT Solitary Confinement Law since it went into effect in 2022. The HALT Solitary Confinement Law was enacted by a supermajority of New York’s legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2021.
In February 2025 – three years after the law went into effect – Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Daniel F. Martuscello III announced the prisons will double down on their violations of the HALT Solitary Law, with an illegal so-called “suspension.” The announcement came as an attempt to quell a labor dispute with New York’s correction’s union which has driven a series of wildcat strikes by corrections officers. These strikes have resulted in the death of more than five incarcerated people.
Amy Fettig, Acting Co-Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution, issued the following statement:
“The Hochul Administration’s continued refusal to enforce the HALT Solitary Law is dangerous, unlawful, and, quite frankly – Trumpian. This is not a ‘suspension’ but an unlawful plan to violate both the law and New York’s separation of powers. The HALT Solitary Law was enacted by a supermajority of the legislature and the Governor because prolonged isolation is a form of torture that inflicts devastating harm on incarcerated people and is inconsistent with basic New York values around human and civil rights. The state prison commissioner is not above the law and can not simply disregard the law.
“In addition to being flagrantly unlawful, violations of the HALT Solitary Law are counterproductive for any effort aimed at improving safety in New York’s jails and prisons given years of overwhelming evidence demonstrating that solitary confinement worsens violence against both incarcerated people and corrections officers while irreparably harming many of the people subject to isolation. At the same time, years of research and practice in other jurisdictions demonstrate that alternative forms of separation that reduce violence without the inhumane use of solitary confinement.
“New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision must reverse course immediately and fully comply with the HALT Solitary Law. Lawmakers and advocates fought for years to end the abuse of solitary confinement, and we must not allow fearmongering and political pressure to undo this hard-won progress.”
BACKGROUND
In late February, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and DOCCS announced that they indefinitely suspended key provisions of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, a historic law that bans the use of prolonged solitary confinement, which the United Nations recognizes as tantamount to torture. This unlawful suspension decision, made in response to correctional officer protests, represents a deeply troubling rollback of legal protections and an outright refusal to follow state law.
The HALT Act was passed to curb the well-documented harms of solitary confinement, yet since its enactment, DOCCS and correctional officer unions have engaged in a relentless campaign to undermine and dismantle the law. That campaign has included lawsuits, misinformation, and now an illegal work stoppage—all aimed at protecting the unchecked power of corrections officers to impose inhumane punishment. Instead of standing firm in defense of the law and the constitutional rights of incarcerated people, state authorities have capitulated to this pressure, endangering the lives of thousands in New York’s prisons.