What Is The HALT Act And What Does It Do?

Public employees in the Empire State have been in the news a lot lately as an illegal statewide strike continues. Officials from the State of New York have demanded that Correctional Officers who have walked off the job return to work, while those prison guards demand substantial changes before they're willing to do so, even if it means they face legal action.

One thing is clear: those who suffer the most are the people of New York as the strike lags on. As days turn into weeks, there have been plenty of accusations thrown by both sides as to the cause of dispute that's led to this strike, chief of them being the implementation of the New York State HALT Act.

State lawmakers and community activities say the HALT Act is an essential reform that was needed in New York, while COs claim the law has caused prisons to devolve into places where they're not able to effectively do their job.

However, lots of folks have asked what the HALT Act is and what did it do?

What Is The HALT Act

According to the New York State Legislature, the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act, or New York State Assembly Bill A8588-A, changed the way the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision used solitary confinement against inmates in prison.

Prior to the passage of this law, there was no legal limit in New York for how long an inmate could be housed by themselves in solitary confinement. People could be confined to a Special Housing Unit, the technical name in New York State, for solitary confinement for months or years. During the legal debate that led to the passage of the HALT Act, it was found that some prisoners spent decades in solitary confinement.

Considering the fact that the United Nations considers anyone spending more than 15 days in solitary confinement, some lawmakers in New York felt this needed to change, which led to the nearly 8 year debate that ended with the passage of the HALT Act.

What Does The HALT Act Do?

According to the text and justification of the HALT Act, the state requires the following:

It set an official definition of solitary and segregated confinement and limited that a person cannot be confined to their cell for more than 17 hours per day,
It set a time limit for how long someone can be kept in a Special Housing Unit to a maximum of 15 consecutive days, or a total of 20 days in a 60-day period,
It prevented people under the age of 21, older than 55, those with disabilities, and pregnant women from being held in a special housing unit and
It required the creation of Residential Rehabilitation Units that would offer alternatives to being held in solitary confinement, like therapeutic and rehabilitative programs.

What Does This Have To Do With The Correctional Officer Strike?

While these reforms seem reasonable in New York's prisons, the striking prison guards are citing this law as the primary reason they have walked off the job.

According to Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY-23), who spoke with WIVB-TV, this law has taken away their ability as correction officers to enforce the rules and to disincentivize bad behavior... and there are no consequences to bad actions inside a prison in this state.