ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's state prison system has been holding inmates in solitary confinement for too long, in violation of state law, a state judge ruled this week.
State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant said in a decision filed Thursday that the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision did not provide sufficient evidence to refute allegations that it has failed to follow the limits on solitary confinement enshrined in state law in 2021.
“DOCCS has the responsibility to submit an administrative record that supports their actions and they have failed to meet this burden,” he wrote.
The decision comes after the New York Civil Liberties Union and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York filed a class action lawsuit last June arguing the agency routinely flouts the state's Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act.
“No one is above the law — that includes prison officials,” the NYCLU said in a statement posted Thursday on the social platform X. “We’ll be watching closely to ensure DOCCS starts complying with the law.”
The corrections department in an emailed statement said it's reviewing the judge's decision.
It also highlighted some recent changes made by the department since Commissioner Daniel Martuscello took over last June.
Among them were updates to the agency's segregated confinement policies, including additional steps and layers of review, such as a new “Confinement Justification Record Form” that must be completed and signed by all review officers, hearing officers and superintendents.
State law limits solitary confinement in most cases to three consecutive days, or six days in any given 30-day period.
But prisoners can be confined alone for longer periods for specified “heinous and destructive” acts, such as injuring someone or acquiring a deadly weapon. In those cases, the “extended segregation” limit is 15 consecutive days, or 20 days in a 60-day period.
The advocacy groups argued in their lawsuit that the corrections department was holding people in extended segregation even though they don’t meet the narrow criteria spelled out in the law.
One plaintiff, Luis Garcia, said he was sentenced to 730 days in solitary confinement after throwing suspected bodily fluids at guards, an offense that the advocacy groups argued did not meet the criteria for extended segregation.
FILE - A solitary confinement cell is seen at New York City's Rikers Island jail, Jan. 28, 2016. New York's state prison system has been holding inmates in solitary confinement for too long, in violation of state law. State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant said in a decision filed Thursday. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
LONDON (AP) — Anti-immigration British politician Nigel Farage on Friday condemned a worker for his Reform U.K. party who suggested migrants crossing the English Channel in boats should be used for “target practice.”
Party activist Andrew Parker was heard suggesting army recruits with guns should be posted to “just shoot” migrants landing on beaches, in recordings made by an undercover reporter from Channel 4. He also used a racial slur about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian descent. Another campaign worker called the LGBT pride flag “degenerate.”
Reform U.K. said it had cut ties with the two men. Farage said he was “dismayed” by the comments and called some of the language “reprehensible.”
“The appalling sentiments expressed by some in these exchanges bear no relation to my own views, those of the vast majority of our supporters or Reform U.K.,” he said in a statement.
Reform is running candidates in hundreds of seats for Britain’s July 4 election, aiming to siphon off voters from the dominant Conservative and Labour parties. It has disowned several candidates after media reported on their far-right ties or offensive comments.
Speaking at a campaign event on Thursday, Farage said that “one or two people let us down and we let them go.” But he said in other cases of criticized comments, “in most cases they’re just speaking like ordinary folk.”
Farage, a right-wing populist and ally of Donald Trump, shook up the election campaign when he announced in early June that he was running.
He has sought to focus the election debate on immigration, particularly the tens of thousands of people each year who try to reach the U.K. in small boats across the English Channel.
The migrants – mostly asylum-seekers fleeing poverty and conflict – account for a small portion of overall immigration to Britain. But the struggle to stop the hazardous crossings has become an emotive political issue.
Opponents have long accused Farage of fanning racist attitudes toward migrants and condemned what they call his scapegoat rhetoric.
Farage, 60, is making his eighth attempt to be elected to Parliament after seven failed bids. Polls suggest he has a comfortable lead in the race to represent the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea.
While Reform is likely to win only a handful of seats, at most, in the 650-seat House of Commons, Farage says his goal is to get a foothold and lead the “real” opposition to a Labour Party government if the Conservatives lose power after 14 years in office.
He is modelling his strategy on Canada’s Reform Party, which helped push that country’s Conservatives to the verge of wipeout in a 1993 election before reshaping Canadian conservative politics.
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage gestures during a meeting while on the general election campaign trail, in Boston, England, Thursday June 27, 2024. (Paul Marriott/PA via AP)
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage speaks at a meeting while on the general election campaign trail, in Boston, England, Thursday June 27, 2024. (Paul Marriott/PA via AP)
