Advocacy groups say state prison agency can’t halt law limiting solitary confinement

A coalition of nearly 100 criminal justice reform organizations, public defenders and other advocacy groups sent a letter to state officials calling the suspension of parts of a law banning solitary confinement illegal and demanding the immediate reversal of the action. 

After Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in response to ongoing strikes by corrections officers at multiple state prisons, state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Daniel Martuscello issued a memo on Thursday in which he said he would suspend certain parts of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act. In the memo, Martuscello noted that the law has provisions to permit “temporary suspension of specific elements” in certain “exceptional circumstances.” “Accordingly, we are suspending the elements of HALT that cannot be safely operationalized under a prison wide state of emergency until we can safely operate the prisons,” he wrote. 

The letter opposing Martuscello’s move to suspend the law was signed by 90 different groups – including the #HALTsolitary Campaign, Bronx Defenders, Center for Community Alternatives and Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. In the letter, a copy of which was shared with City & State, advocates for the HALT Solitary Confinement Act contend that Martuscello doesn’t have the authority that he purports to have. “We, the undersigned organizations, demand that you immediately reverse the illegal purported suspension of the HALT Solitary Confinement Law and instead fully and effectively implement it,” the letter reads. The letter asserts that any attempt to suspend the law in line with Martuscello’s memo would “illegally usurp the lawmaking function of the state legislature, and cause grave harm and likely death.”

But state Sen. Julia Salazar, who sponsored the HALT law in the upper chamber, told City & State that DOCCS has not actually suspended the law – and that the commissioner doesn’t have that authority anyway. “The actual reality of HALT compliance, and the impact of this extraordinary crisis on HALT compliance, didn't really warrant a memo in my opinion,” Salazar said in a text message. “The law allows for very specific exceptions to HALT's requirements in extraordinary circumstances like the current moment, when staffing levels are so low that there aren't enough security staff to reliably move people to and from programming or to and from other out-of-cell activities in compliance with HALT.” 

Salazar added that Martuscello “should not have used that language” in the memo that he sent out, and said that DOCCS should have made it clear that making use of the limited provisions written into the law is not a suspension. “The Department should clarify this internally and publicly and elaborate to demonstrate that they are not violating the law,” she said, adding that the signatories to the letter are right to demand clarity from DOCCS. “Truly an unforced error on DOCCS's part and it's completely justified for everyone who cares about HALT to be alarmed by it,” Salazar said.

A spokesperson for DOCCS did not directly answer a request for comment on the specific provisions Martuscello referenced in his memo and which elements he had claimed to have suspended. A spokesperson instead sent a statement providing an update on the eighth day of strikes that said, among other things, that negotiations between DOCCS and the corrections officers union remain ongoing. 

In addition to an immediate reversal of the purported suspension of the HALT law, the letter from advocacy groups also demands the full implementation of the measure, which advocates contend DOCCS had slow-walked or outright violated even before the strike began. “DOCCS is not above the law, and must implement all components of the HALT Solitary Law,” the letter reads.

The letter comes as the strikes enter their eighth day, and following the first reported death of an incarcerated individual during the work stoppage. A 61-year-old man at the Auburn Correctional Facility was found unresponsive in his cell on Saturday after reportedly being “unwell,” according to The New York Times.

Republicans, meanwhile, are calling on the governor to fully repeal the HALT law. Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay demanded that Hochul include a repeal in her 30-day executive budget amendments. “The entire system has become more dangerous,” he said in a statement last week. “We don’t need another year of alarming violence to know what needs to be done.” The governor released those amendments on Thursday, and they did not include a repeal of HALT. On Monday, both the state Senate and Assembly Republican conferences held press events reiterating their calls for a HALT repeal.