Senator Patrick M. Gallivan, (R-C, Elma) has reviewed a series of recommendations put forward by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to amend the state’s Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT Act, in hopes of improving safety for staff and inmates in New York correctional facilities. The proposed changes come from a special committee made up of state and union officials created following a 22-day state correction officer strike earlier this year.

The committee unanimously agreed on recommendations that would amend the current law and met with members of the Assembly Committee on Correction and Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee to present and discuss the proposed changes.

The recommendations were carefully developed to improve safety within the state’s correctional facilities while maintaining the fundamental goal of the HALT Act – to reduce isolation and increase rehabilitative programming to more effectively address the underlying issues that lead incarcerated individuals to engage in misbehavior.

“Our corrections system is broken, and we must work to ensure a safe, secure and humane system,” Senator Gallivan said. “The committee’s recommendations can help improve safety and security for everyone who lives, works, and visits our correctional facilities. These reforms advance policies and programs to better address the dangerous environments found in New York’s prisons. I thank the committee for its work to date and urge my colleagues in the Legislature to do its part to ensure the safety and security of our corrections system, which is necessary to advance the system’s rehabilitative goals. This is a good first step; we must recognize, though, our work to ensure a corrections system that meets its obligation to all New Yorkers, is not done.”  

The committee’s recommendations include steps to better deter specific serious offenses by incarcerated individuals, ensure the availability of protective custody, deter repeat offenses inside prisons, and to incentivize good behavior with positive programming. 

In March 2025, as part of a Memorandum of Agreement with the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA), the HALT Committee was formed and began meeting to review the HALT Act in its current form. The proposed recommendations have been submitted to the State Legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul’s office for additional review.

The Committee is comprised of representatives from DOCCS, the Office of Employee Relations, and the Division of Criminal Justice Services, and unions representing employees working in DOCCS correctional facilities – Civil Service Employees Association, Council 82, NYSCOPBA, and Public Employees Federation. Committee members also met with several independent stakeholders, including the Center for Community Alternatives, Correctional Association of New York, HALT Solitary Campaign, Legal Action Center, New York Civil Liberties Union, and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York.

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