Nathylin Flowers marches with protesters against solitary confinement at New York state correctional facilities, during a rally at the state Capitol in Albany on Wednesday. Photo: Hans Pennink/AP

As a sweeping measure to restrict the use of solitary confinement fell short of enactment Thursday night, the Cuomo administration and lawmakers reached an understanding to allow some of those reforms to be implemented by the executive branch.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, along with leaders from both houses of the Legislature, confirmed in a joint statement that a bill to restrict the use of solitary confinement and limit who's eligible for the punishment would not get a vote on the floor of either chamber.

“While we are disappointed that HALT legislation could not be passed this year, we have reached an agreement to dramatically reduce the use of solitary confinement in correctional facilities,” the statement said.

Instead, some of the changes that were proposed in the larger bill will be implemented administratively by the Cuomo administration.

Prisoners will not be allowed to remain in a special housing unit for solitary confinement beyond 30 days under the new rules. Advocates and lawmakers had pushed for a cap of 15 days.

The new rules will prohibit vulnerable incarcerated individuals from being housed in a special housing unit, like children, pregnant women and disabled individuals. They'll also ensure that only serious misconduct can land someone in solitary confinement, not petty offenses.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision will be required to expand the use of specialized units where those released from solitary confinement can still be housed before returning to the general population area of a facility. Individuals housed in those units will receive specialized treatment and programming to encourage rehabilitation.

Individuals housed in the specialized units also will be able to earn an early release back into the general population area if they complete the programming assigned to them by staff. At no time will staff at the prison or jail be able to deny essential services to inmates as a form of discipline, including restricted diets.

The changes also will require more training for staff that work within special housing units on implicit bias, trauma-informed care, dispute resolution and more. Staff will only be able to send an individual to solitary confinement if there's a safety risk to others.

It's unclear whether the original legislation, called the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, ever had legs among lawmakers, at least in the State Senate. It's already passed once in the Assembly, but the chamber decided not take similar action this year.

Sources familiar with negotiations on the measure in the Senate said there was a real concern that the bill would have been vetoed by Cuomo if they passed it with the Assembly. That's because Cuomo, in recent days, expressed concerns about the alleged cost of the bill, which would require new units to house prisoners away from others but outside solitary confinement.

Cuomo claimed the mandate could cost the state upward of $350 million and localities a combined $1 billion. The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Luis Sepulveda, D-Bronx, had disagreed on what the final cost of the bill would be.

Assemblyman Dan Quart, D-Manhattan, was a strong supporter of the measure, which he co-sponsored in the Assembly. He criticized the various positions against the legislation, including Cuomo's concerns over cost.

“This is not about financial feasibility, it's not about political will, and it's not about safety; passing this bill is about people's lives.” Quart said. “The governor's refusal to sign legislation that has broad democratic support is inexplicable and utterly disappointing and come January, passing the full HALT bill must be a priority.”

Advocates who support the bill had been on a hunger strike at the state Capitol and in other areas of the state for more than a week over the Legislature's failure to move on the legislation. Details on what was happening with the bill were few and far between in recent days, with some lawmakers saying the bill was still on the table until early Thursday evening.

The #HALTsolitary Campaign, a coalition of criminal justice groups who pushed the measure, criticized Democrats in a statement Thursday evening for crafting the deal with Cuomo, rather than passing the legislation.

They had expected the bill to move after Democrats took control of the chamber this year for the first time in nearly a decade. The legislation failed to come to the floor, despite a majority of members signing on to sponsor the bill.

“Following last year's election when Democrats took control of the State Senate we were repeatedly given assurances and promises that HALT was a priority for both houses,” the coalition said. “Instead leadership back-slid to politics as usual, where just three people, Governor Cuomo, Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie thwarted democracy and undercut the ability of their members to legislate on issues and values that they care about.”

Cuomo's office didn't give a timeline on when the new administrative actions would be implemented. Some can happen immediately, like limits on the use of solitary confinement. Others, like expanding specialized units, may take more time.

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