The Legal Aid Society and prisoner rights advocates across the state are applauding the passage of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act – a bill that would limit the use of solitary confinement in New York – by the state legislature this week.

Under the legislation, incarcerated people would not be put in segregated confinement for more than 15 consecutive days, as reported by the New York Law Journal.

Legal Aid stands with multiple organizations in calling on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill into law and begin shifting the punishment paradigm away from torture and towards mental health treatment.