This class-action lawsuit challenges the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s (DOCCS) unilateral suspension of key provisions of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT) in response to an illegal work stoppage by correction officers.

Though HALT was enacted to curb DOCCS’s use of solitary confinement, beginning in February 2025, DOCCS has relied on the suspension to impose extreme isolation on Plaintiffs and thousands of others at prisons across the state in a manner that HALT prohibits.

Plaintiffs filed their complaint and class certification motion in April 2025.

In May 2025, Plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the suspension was unlawful and inflicting irreparable harm on putative class members. In July 2025, the court granted plaintiffs’ motion, blocking the suspension, and requiring DOCCS to support any new suspension with evidence submitted to the court.

In August 2025, Plaintiffs moved an order enforcing the preliminary injunction and holding DOCCS in civil contempt for failing to comply with the preliminary injunction.

That motion and plaintiffs’ motion for class certification remain pending.