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Cuomo signs bill that reforms solitary confinement

Apr 02, 2021 6:33 am
Edward McKinley reports in the Times Union that New York State can no longer hold people in solitary confinement for more than 15 days at a time, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the HALT Solitary Confinement Act into law April 1. Despite the name, the bill does not stop solitary confinement. But it does create Residential Rehabilitation Units as an alternative to solitary; prohibits any solitary confinement for people under 21, over 55, who are pregnant, or who have a disability; requires yearly training for staff who oversee solitary confinement, and requires the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to track and release data about solitary confinement. Criminal justice reform groups, the Catholic church, Amnesty International, legal service groups, and others have pushed Cuomo to ban solitary confinement for years. Blacks represent 58 percent of those in isolation, and more than 80 percent of those held in solitary are Black or Latino inmates. Read more about this story in the Times Union.