Criminal justice reform activists rallied in downtown Binghamton this week, demanding New York fully reinstate and enforce paused restrictions on solitary confinement in prisons and jails.
For weeks, corrections officers across the state have been staging wildcat strikes, calling for improved working conditions and the repeal of the HALT Act, which limits the use of extended solitary confinement in prisons and jails.
Under HALT, jails and prisons can only keep inmates confined for three consecutive days, or six days in a 30-day period. In some cases, such as if an inmate injures someone or obtains a weapon, prisons can confine them for as long as 15 consecutive days.
The state also prohibits the solitary confinement of anyone younger than 21 or older than 55, as well as those who are pregnant or have disabilities.
In response to the strikes, the Department of Corrections announced last month it would temporarily suspend parts of the law. However, local criminal justice reform activists argue the law has never been fully enforced.
Bill Martin from Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier [JUST] said the group has heard from people within the Broome County jail who have experienced illegal solitary confinement.
“We have three kids under the age of 21 who've gone into isolation. The HALT law says you can't do that,” Martin said. “We've got people who are disabled, who are mentally distressed, who go into solitary in one form or another. They think up new names. It's now called ‘keeplock.’ It's called ‘D-block.’ It's called ‘medical.’ All these things are basic forms of solitary.”
During the rally outside of the Broome County office building, activists used a speaker to amplify a phone call with Joshua Vaughn, who is currently jailed in the Broome County Correctional Facility. Vaughn said that inmates across New York are still experiencing extended solitary confinement.
“These individuals are currently languishing in prison cells with cages attached to them, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Vaughn said. “As someone who has spent years in segregated confinement, I can attest to the fact that even a day in this type of confinement results in prolonged psychological and emotional trauma.”
JUST organizer Andy Pragacz said solitary confinement “amounts to torture,” and called on local elected officials to enforce HALT.
“Fully implement the HALT law, a law that's never been fully implemented here,” Pragacz said. “We're calling for more oversight of the Broome County jail, specifically of conditions of confinement, to ensure solitary confinement is not happening.”
The Broome County sheriff’s office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar told the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin that there is no solitary confinement in the jail.
He said in a statement that JUST "repeatedly made broad and vague allegations, which are sadly not linked to or backed up by any current facts and are demonstrably false with even the simplest of research."
A HALT report to the state, last updated on March 1, shows no incidents of solitary confinement at the Broome County jail this year.
Pragacz called the recent corrections officer strikes an attempt to “change the conversation” after six guards at Marcy Correctional Facility were indicted for beating inmate Robert Brooks to death in December.
On Tuesday, 15 prison staffers were placed on leave at nearby Mid-State Correctional Facility, following the death of another inmate, 22-year-old Messiah Nantwi.
Two thousand corrections officers returned to work over the weekend, according to the state. Over 8,000 are still on strike.
Republican Broome County Sheriff Fred Akshar recently visited Elmira in support of striking corrections officers.
“My hope is that we find a solution in short order, because, frankly, the people who are inside don't have the requisite backup that they need,” Akshar said. “It's not good for the inmate population, certainly not good for the men and women who are currently inside the facility.”
Akshar said he agreed with the state’s decision to suspend parts of the HALT Act, but called the weeks-long strike “a culmination of the last five, six, seven years of just bad and terrible policy.”
“What happened in Marcy was completely unacceptable and was criminal in nature, and those people are being held accountable,” Akshar said. “But we should not judge the 99.5% of good men and women who do the job, based on the actions of a few.”
In a statement on social media, Democratic Congressman Josh Riley said he also joined striking corrections officers on the picket line in Sullivan County.
“They want the prison to be safer for everybody: prisoners, visitors, and their fellow officers. I want that for them, too,” Riley said. “But right now, they’re not getting the respect they’ve earned, and they’re being asked to do too much with too little while facing unrealistic mandates out of Albany.”
On Tuesday, corrections officers traveled to Albany to denounce a tentative deal to end the strike between the state and the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union which represents the officers. That deal failed last week. This week, New York began firing striking corrections officers who did not return to work.
