HALT Act: NY Solitary Confinement Limits, Hearings, and Oversight

The HALT Act in New York, formally the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, limits how long any incarcerated person in the state can be held in isolation and bans the practice outright for several protected groups. Signed in 2021 and fully effective March 31, 2022, it caps segregated confinement at 15 consecutive days in every state prison and county jail, requires therapeutic alternatives for anyone who needs longer separation, and rewrites the rules for who can be isolated and why.¹

What Counts as Segregated Confinement

The statute defines segregated confinement as holding someone in a cell for more than 17 hours a day, with narrow exceptions for a facility-wide emergency or for medical and mental health treatment.² That hours-based test matters because it reaches isolation practices that go by other names, not just placement in a traditional special housing unit or keeplock cell. The law applies uniformly across the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and every local jail, including New York City facilities.

Even inside segregated confinement, the cell is not supposed to be locked around the clock. Facilities must offer at least four hours of out-of-cell time each day, with a minimum of one hour for recreation.³

The 15-Day Cap and the 20-in-60 Rule

No one may be held in segregated confinement for more than 15 consecutive days. The law also caps cumulative isolation at 20 total days within any 60-day period.³ The second number closes a loophole: without it, a facility could cycle a person through back-to-back 14-day stretches separated by a single day in general population. Once either threshold is reached, the person must leave isolation, going either back to general population or into a Residential Rehabilitation Unit.

Who Cannot Be Placed in Segregated Confinement at All

The HALT Act names four “special populations” who are banned from segregated confinement regardless of what rule they are accused of breaking:³

People 21 or younger
People 55 or older
People with a disability as defined under the New York Executive Law
People who are pregnant, within eight weeks postpartum, or caring for a child in a correctional facility

There is one narrow carveout: keeplock, a temporary cell restriction while a disciplinary hearing is pending. Even then, a member of a special population must get seven hours of out-of-cell time per day or be transferred to a Residential Rehabilitation Unit within 48 hours.³

Who counts as “disabled” has been the most contested piece of this list. DOCCS and the Office of Mental Health have taken the position that only people formally designated with a “serious mental illness” qualify. The Inspector General and advocacy groups read the statute’s reference to Executive Law more broadly, covering people on mental health caseloads who have not received that formal designation.⁴ If you or a family member fall into that gray zone, the designation on file is often what determines whether the ban applies in practice.

What Conduct Can Trigger Confinement

The law narrows the universe of infractions that can justify isolation to seven categories of serious conduct listed in Correction Law §137(6)(k)(ii):⁴

Causing, attempting, or making an imminent threat of serious physical injury or death, where the person has a history of such conduct and is likely to follow through
Compelling or attempting to compel a sexual act by force or threat of force
Extortion through force or threats
Coercing another person to violate facility rules through violence or threats
Leading, organizing, or inciting a riot or insurrection that results in hostage-taking, major property damage, or injury
Possessing a deadly weapon or other contraband that poses a serious threat to facility security
Escaping, attempting escape, or helping someone else escape

Minor rule violations no longer qualify. In cases built on threats rather than completed acts, the facility must get a determination from the Office of Mental Health before imposing confinement; without that confirmation, the threats alone cannot support isolation.

The Hearing Before Placement

A corrections officer cannot send someone to segregated confinement unilaterally. The statute requires an evidentiary hearing before placement, or as soon as reasonably practicable afterward and no later than five days from the start of confinement.³ The facility must establish three things in writing: that the person committed one of the seven qualifying acts; that general population placement creates a significant risk of imminent serious physical injury; and that it creates an unreasonable risk to facility security.⁴ All three are required. If any later reviewer concludes the conduct does not meet the HALT standard, the person must be released from segregated confinement immediately.

Residential Rehabilitation Units

When behavior is considered too disruptive for general population past the 15-day limit, or when someone in a special population needs structured housing, the law directs facilities to use Residential Rehabilitation Units (RRUs). These are separate housing areas built around treatment and programming rather than punishment.

Each person in an RRU must get at least six hours of daily out-of-cell congregate programming, services, treatment, or meals, plus one additional hour of recreation, for a minimum of seven hours out of cell per day.³ Program and mental health staff must assess the person on admission and build an individual rehabilitation plan. When the goals in that plan are met, the person has to be released from the RRU and the underlying disciplinary sanctions dismissed.

Programs and work assignments inside an RRU are supposed to be comparable to those available in general population. Restraints during out-of-cell activities are allowed only after a documented individual assessment finds them necessary for safety. Staff and supervisors assigned to RRUs must complete specialized training in trauma-informed care, restorative justice, and conflict de-escalation before working in the unit.⁵

Oversight and the Gap Between Law and Practice

DOCCS has to publish monthly, semi-annual, and annual data on segregated confinement and RRU placements, including demographics and durations. The Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs reviews DOCCS compliance each year, and the State Commission of Correction performs the same role for local jails, which must file annual reports on their confinement and RRU activity.⁶⁷

Those reviews have found serious compliance problems. The Inspector General’s 2024 report concluded that about 24 percent of sampled confinement incidents lacked sufficient written justification tying the conduct to one of the seven qualifying acts.⁴ DOCCS relies largely on paper logs that cannot reliably show whether someone is in segregated confinement or an RRU, how long they have been there, or whether required out-of-cell time was actually offered. Justice Center surveys found roughly a third of people in RRUs said they were not offered the required amount of out-of-cell programming, and about 20 percent said they were not always offered daily recreation. An independent monitor found some RRUs providing as little as three hours of out-of-cell time, half of what the statute requires.⁶

Twenty days after the law took effect, DOCCS leadership issued a directive requiring restraints for all people in RRUs during escorts and out-of-cell activities, contradicting the law’s individual-assessment requirement. That directive remained in place roughly 14 months before being rescinded in June 2023.⁴ For anyone navigating confinement under HALT, the practical takeaway is that the written rules and the day-to-day reality in a given facility can diverge, and documentation from the facility is often the first place to look when the two do not match.

A Note on Federal Facilities

The HALT Act is a New York statute. It does not reach federal prisons. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has no hard time cap on Special Housing Unit placements; its policy triggers a regional office review after 90 days, but that review can result in continued confinement rather than release.⁸ If the person you are concerned about is held in a federal facility in New York, the state law’s protections do not apply.

1
New York State Commission of Correction. Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act Annual Report 2023
2
New York State Senate. New York Consolidated Laws, Correction Law – COR 2
3
New York State Senate. NY State Senate Bill 2021-S2836
4
New York State Inspector General. NYS OIG DOCCS HALT Report
5
Yates County. New Regulations Governing Segregated Confinement and Residential Rehabilitation Units
6
New York State Justice Center. Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement
7
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Segregated Confinement Regulations
8
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Restricted Housing