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New York prisons continue to break solitary confinement law

Feb 14, 2023 12:11 am

Chris Gelardi reports for New York Focus that Anthony Annucci, the acting head of the state prison agency for the past nine years, claims space issues are forcing prisons across the state to routinely violate the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act. That legislation passed last year to end solitary confinement in prisons, yet solitary confinement continues in prisons. According to Annucci, there was an increase in the number of assaults in prisons shortly after HALT’s enactment, which he claims “overwhelmed” the system forcing more prisoners into solitary confinement. State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal told New York Focus that he was “appalled with the acting commissioner’s responses” about the corrections system regularly violating the law. “Our corrections system is operating outside our statute, which was thoroughly considered, and negotiated by the executive itself,” Holyman-Sigal said. Read more about this story at New York Focus.