The Legal Aid Society filed a class action lawsuit challenging the New York City Department of Correction’s (DOC) isolation of people, including those with disabilities, for 23 to 24 hours per day over prolonged periods in cells in two housing areas on Rikers Island in theWest Facility’ and the North Infirmary Command (NIC).

Catala seeks declaratory and injunctive relief for the class under New York’s Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT). HALT strictly limits the use of solitary confinement in New York in several ways: restricting the maximum duration of solitary to 15 days; limiting the conduct that can justify its use to the most serious infractions; requiring due process; and categorically excluding vulnerable groups including people with disabilities, from any solitary confinement. The City’s practices patently violate HALT, as people are placed in these cells without the process required by HALT and well in excess of its 15-day limit.