Members Seek to Reform HALT Act
By Hank Russell
The Assembly Republican Conference held a press conference on March 16 and was joined by New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA) President Chris Summers and representatives from correctional officers’ unions from around the state to announce a new bill that they said will improve safety and staffing in the state’s prisons.
The legislation features 10 proposals developed by the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Committee to reform the HALT Act, which they said is severely flawed. David DiPietro (R,C-East Aurora), ranking member of the Committee on Correction, introduced the bill. Local sponsors include Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) and Joe DeStefano (R-Medford).
Key provisions include:
- Expanding the list of criminal behavior eligible for segregated confinement to include conduct consistent with violent felony offenses under state Penal Law, acts so heinous or destructive that placement in the general population creates a significant safety risk, lewd conduct or sexual harassment of staff or incarcerated individuals, aggravated harassment of an employee by an incarcerated individual and patterns of extortion by gangs or criminal enterprises.
- Removing language that currently prevents individuals involved in riots, escapes or attempted escapes from being placed in segregated confinement.
- Allowing short-term disciplinary confinement in a Special Housing Unit or Residential Rehabilitation Unit for individuals who repeatedly engage in misconduct not eligible for disciplinary confinement, after other interventions have failed.
- Allowing short-term protective custody in segregated confinement when no safe housing alternative is available.
- Providing DOCCS with greater flexibility in administering out-of-cell programming and managing repeat offenders.
This is not the first time that Republicans in the Assembly have called for the HALT Act to be repealed. As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, then-Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R,C-Pulaski) called on Governor Kathy Hochul to include a repeal of the HALT Act in her 30-day budget amendments. On February 20, Barclay visited Auburn Correctional Facility to show his support for correctional officers, who went on strike calling for increased staffing and safer working conditions.
In the wake of worker protests, LILP also reported, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) has temporarily suspended elements of the HALT Act that “’create a significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other incarcerated persons, staff or the facility,’” according to a memorandum from DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III.
“Governor Hochul and Albany’s progressives created this nightmare by empowering violent inmates with the disastrous HALT Act and abandoning our correctional officers in the face of assaults, mandatory OT and the worst morale we’ve ever seen,” DiPietro said.
DiPietro said Hochul “lied” when she said last year this problem would be fixed. “She was given recommendations from bipartisan groups across the state, including the HALT Committee formed under her own administration,” DiPietro said. “She didn’t put it in the budget; she hasn’t even mentioned it. She did, however, fire 2,000 officers in a vindictive executive order instead of addressing the crisis her party caused. Democrats stand with criminals, not the heroes risking their lives to protect us.”
“After years of policies that have driven correction officers out of the workforce and made our prisons more dangerous for both staff and inmates, it’s no surprise our correctional system is in crisis,” Ra said. “Instead of addressing one of the root causes — the HALT Act — the state has relied on temporary fixes like lowering hiring standards and spending more than $1 billion to deploy the National Guard. The HALT Committee offered recommendations developed and endorsed by the administration’s own agencies. Everyone deserves to go to work knowing their safety is a priority — not an afterthought.”
“Albany’s reckless policies have pushed our correctional system into a full-blown crisis,” DeStefano said. “The HALT Act, combined with years of ignoring the growing staffing shortage, has made our prisons more dangerous for the correction officers who put their lives on the line every day to maintain order and protect the public. Officers are being asked to do more with fewer resources while violence inside facilities continues to rise. Enough is enough.”
“Our correction officers deserve laws that support them, not policies that tie their hands and make an already difficult job even more dangerous,” DeStefano added. “This legislative package is about restoring common sense, rebuilding the workforce and putting safety back at the center of New York’s correctional policies.”
The HALT Committee, formed as part of the March 2025 agreement between NYSCOPBA and New York State, was tasked with evaluating how the HALT Act is functioning in practice and identifying needed changes. The Committee was comprised of representatives from the DOCCS, NYSCOPBA, the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), the Office of Employee Relations and multiple unions representing DOCCS’ employees. Feedback was also received from several independent stakeholders, including the Correctional Association of New York.
In September 2025, the Committee unanimously approved 10 recommendations and submitted them to the governor and Legislature. The GOP Assembly Conference said this legislation mirrors those recommendations with the goal of improving safety and staffing in state correctional facilities.
LILP reached out to the governor’s office. “Governor Hochul has made it clear that the safety of all New Yorkers — including the staff and incarcerated individuals in our prisons — is a top priority,” a Hochul spokesperson said. “That is why she has implemented a number of new policies within DOCCS to make fundamental, systemwide changes to the state’s correction system to ensure our facilities are run in a safe and efficient manner for all. The governor will review all legislation that passes both houses of the state legislature.”