The New York Civil Liberties Union has announced a major development in its work on prison conditions in New York State.
New York has agreed to overhaul how solitary confinement is used in state prisons, settling a long-standing lawsuit brought by a civil liberties group.
New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Liberman calls Wednesday's agreement historic. “We exposed the shocking reality, that every day thousands of incarcerated New Yorkers have been forced to serve their time under a brutal and debilitating regime of extreme isolation.”
About 4,000 of the state's roughly 60,000 prisoners are serving their time in 23-hour confinement for violating rules.
Many have been held there for months and even years for minor, nonviolent violations. Under the agreement, the state will seek to move 1,100 such prisoners to more rehabilitative housing units in the coming months.
© 2015 AP
