New York flouts prison solitary confinement rules: lawsuit

By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York prison officials were accused in a lawsuit of subjecting people to prolonged solitary confinement in violation of a state law meant to strictly limit a practice increasingly criticized as inhumane. The New York Civil Liberties Union and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York filed a class-action lawsuit late Wednesday in an Albany court claiming that the state routinely flouts limits on solitary confinement approved in 2021 by state lawmakers. A spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the agency has not been served and does not comment on pending litigation.