The Legal Aid Society, after a court argument by attorneys Katherine Haas and Riley Evans, secured a preliminary injunction against the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) for its far-reaching and unlawful rollback of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Law (HALT).

HALT is a landmark human rights law that limits the use of solitary confinement in prisons and jails throughout New York State.

The ruling comes after Legal Aid filed a lawsuit in April against DOCCS over this illegal suspension. The class-action suit was filed by six incarcerated New Yorkers seeking to represent people in prisons across the state who are subjected to daily, prolonged periods of solitary confinement.

One of the plaintiffs, Taron Jackson, is a 45-year-old father of three from the Bronx currently housed in the Special Housing Unit at Green Haven Correctional Facility. Under the HALT suspension, Mr. Jackson has been locked in his cell for between 23 and 24 hours per day. He is permitted one hour of outdoor recreation time per day, however, DOCCS employees have told Mr. Jackson that he must choose between the outdoor recreation or access to the telephone after 5 P.M.

Because he prioritizes speaking with his children after school, Mr. Jackson chooses not to go to recreation, meaning that his only time out of his cell is for a ten-minute shower three times per week. The isolation has caused Mr. Jackson – who has mental illness – to experience insomnia and nightmares that make him feel like “he might be going crazy.”

“We are grateful that the court recognized the grave harm caused by DOCCS’s unlawful suspension of the HALT Solitary Law and acted to stop it,” said Antony Gemmell, Supervising Attorney with Legal Aid’s Prisoners’ Rights Project. “This decision reaffirms that no agency — regardless of political pressure — can unilaterally disregard laws enacted to protect human rights. HALT was passed to end the torture of prolonged solitary confinement, and this injunction is a critical step toward ensuring the State honors that commitment and upholds the dignity of those in its custody.”