By Jennifer Scaife, 

In March 2025, the New York State (NYS) Department of Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and correction officers reached an agreement to end a 22-day unauthorized work stoppage.1 That agreement includes three terms related to the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT), a law that limits and regulates DOCCS’ use of segregated confinement: (1) a 90-day suspension of the law’s programming provisions, (2) a directive for facility administrators to prioritize suspending general population programs over HALT-mandated ones on days with high staff vacancies, and (3) the establishment of a committee to recommend changes to the law (HALT Committee). Before these events unfolded, the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) set out to examine two interrelated issues: compliance with and perceptions of HALT within state correctional facilities. In March 2023, CANY published a report examining the first eight months of HALT’s implementation. Building on that earlier work, this report examines trends in DOCCS’ use of segregated confinement, compliance with key provisions of the law, and perceptions of HALT’s impact on work and life in prison. More specifically, this report covers the period from January 2023 to July 2024 but occasionally includes data from the year before and months after HALT was implemented for comparison. The analysis draws from one-on-one interviews, stakeholder meetings, and administrative data. It is presented in three sections: Part I: Analysis of DOCCS’ Data on the Special Housing Unit (SHU) and Rehabilitative Residential Unit (RRU), Part II: Implementing HALT, and Part III: Living and Working with HALT. The report finds that, since HALT was implemented, the number of people isolated from the general population for disciplinary reasons, either in a SHU or RRU, has increased. While the SHU and RRU are meant to serve distinct purposes, the law’s implementation—constrained by existing infrastructure, staffing challenges, and, at times, DOCCS’ interpretation—has led to gaps in compliance that blur the distinction between the two units.

New York: Correctional Association of New York, 2026. 111p.

By The Correctional Association of New York

The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Law (hereinafter “the HALT Law” or “the HALT Solitary Law”) passed on March 31, 2021, and went into effect on March 31, 2022, following years of grassroots organizing and advocacy. The Correctional Association of New York (CANY) – an organization that has been monitoring prison conditions since its founding in 1844 and is the only independent organization in New York State with authority to monitor state prisons and publicly report findings – has been monitoring implementation of the HALT Law in state prisons.1 The HALT Law is considered the most expansive and progressive legislative change in the United States concerning the practice of solitary confinement, known more generally as segregation. HALT dictates fundamental shifts in the duration and definition of segregation; perhaps even more significantly, the law prescribes a sea change in the philosophical underpinnings of behavior management in prisons. Implementation of the law has been met with harsh critique and resistance by some staff within the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), who have linked the law to reported increases in violence in the prisons; various data outlined in this report raise questions about the connection between any increase in violence and the implementation of HALT. Other corrections staff acknowledge that the Department had relied too heavily on segregation in the past and embrace the opportunity to expand programming, even as they navigate the challenges. This report presents CANY’s findings and recommendations regarding implementation of the law in state prisons thus far, based on CANY’s prison monitoring activities in the time leading up to implementation and between April and December 2022. The findings presented here should be considered in that context: CANY has monitored the first eight months of implementation of a law that seeks to transform practices that have been in place for decades. In anticipation of the HALT Law taking effect, DOCCS ended the practice of keeplock (a form of segregation or solitary confinement) starting in late 2021. The HALT Law has also led to a reduction in the use of Special Housing Units (SHU), another form of segregation or solitary confinement, and a reduction in the amount of time people are kept in SHU. In addition, some incarcerated people who had spent years and decades in SHU have been moved to alternative units or to the general population. Moreover, DOCCS is operating alternative units, known under the law as Residential Rehabilitation Units (RRUs), that are providing opportunities for out-of-cell programming and engagement. DOCCS has also published a variety of administrative data and reports in compliance with the law, representing an increase in information-sharing, transparency, and accountability.

New York: CANY, 2023. 65p