Solitary Confinement in New York: Limits, Duration, and Due Process

The rules on solitary confinement in New York are set primarily by the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, known as the HALT Act, which took effect in 2022. It caps most stints in segregated confinement at fifteen consecutive days, bans the practice entirely for several protected groups, and applies to both state prisons and county jails.¹

What Counts as Segregated Confinement

New York Correction Law § 2(23) defines segregated confinement as holding someone in a cell for more than seventeen hours a day.² The name the facility gives the housing unit does not matter. If a person is locked in for more than seventeen out of every twenty-four hours, the HALT Act’s restrictions apply.

Two narrow exceptions exist. A facility-wide emergency can temporarily override the seventeen-hour threshold, and so can medical or mental health treatment, but only when the person is housed in or near a clinical area rather than an ordinary cell under the label of treatment.²

Who Cannot Be Placed in Segregated Confinement

Correction Law § 2(33) identifies “special populations” that cannot be placed in segregated confinement at all, no matter what the underlying infraction is:

Anyone twenty-one years of age or younger
Anyone fifty-five years of age or older
Anyone with a disability as defined under the New York Executive Law
Anyone who is pregnant, within the first eight weeks after giving birth, or caring for a child in a correctional facility

These categories reach further than many people assume. The disability definition tracks the state’s Executive Law rather than a narrower medical standard, and the postpartum protection runs a full eight weeks after delivery.¹

Even when someone in a special population is placed in keeplock pending a disciplinary hearing, the facility must provide seven hours of daily out-of-cell time or transfer the person to a residential rehabilitation unit or residential mental health treatment unit within forty-eight hours.¹

How Long Segregated Confinement Can Last

For everyone outside the special populations, the statute sets two tiers tied to the seriousness of the behavior.

Standard Disciplinary Violations

For ordinary rule violations, a facility can place a person in segregated confinement for up to three consecutive days and no more than six total days within any thirty-day period. This lower cap applies to the large majority of disciplinary infractions.³

Violent Felony Acts

When an evidentiary hearing finds that someone committed an act that would qualify as a violent felony, longer isolation is allowed: up to fifteen consecutive days, with an aggregate cap of twenty total days within any sixty-day window. Once either limit is reached, the person must be released to general population or transferred to a residential rehabilitation unit.³

If another violent felony act occurs within sixty days, an additional fifteen-day period can be imposed for each new incident. The statute builds in a circuit breaker: the person must spend at least fifteen days in a residential rehabilitation unit between each stretch of segregated confinement, so back-to-back isolation periods cannot be chained without an intervening step-down.³

What Happens After the Cap: Residential Rehabilitation Units

When someone reaches the time limit for segregated confinement but the facility still identifies a safety concern, the person moves to a residential rehabilitation unit. Correction Law § 2(34) defines these as separate housing units focused on therapy, treatment, and rehabilitative programming for people determined to need more than fifteen days of separation. The statute requires them to be therapeutic and trauma-informed.²

The programming requirements are specific. Under the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s operational manual, people in these units must receive at least six hours of daily out-of-cell congregate programming, services, treatment, or meals, plus a minimum of one additional hour of recreation.⁴ That is a minimum of seven hours outside the cell every day. Programming must involve meaningful social interaction and therapeutic activities, not just time in a common room.

In local jails, the out-of-cell requirements differ by setting. People held in segregated confinement in local facilities must be offered at least four hours of out-of-cell programming per day, and those in residential rehabilitation units must receive at least six.⁵

Due Process Before Placement

The HALT Act prohibits placing someone in segregated confinement before a disciplinary hearing except in narrow circumstances. Pre-hearing keeplock is permitted only if the chief administrative officer reasonably believes, and states in writing, that the person’s behavior constitutes a violent felony act.⁵ Without that written determination, administrative segregation pending a hearing cannot amount to segregated confinement.

At the hearing, the incarcerated person has the right to representation or assistance from an attorney and may present evidence and call witnesses. The legislative history describes these protections as a check on arbitrary placement decisions.⁶

Where the Rules Apply

The HALT Act governs both state correctional facilities run by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and local county jails. The core prohibitions, time limits, and special population protections apply in both settings. Local jails with more than 500 beds must also maintain residential rehabilitation units and publish monthly, semi-annual, and annual reports on the people housed in them.⁵

Enforcing a Violation

When a facility violates the HALT Act, the incarcerated person has several avenues, but the sequence matters. The first step is the internal grievance system. Skipping it can limit or eliminate a later court challenge, because the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act requires exhaustion of available administrative remedies before a lawsuit over prison conditions.

After exhausting grievances, a person can challenge violations through a state court action or a federal civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The HALT Act’s procedural requirements create a state-law liberty interest, which supports a § 1983 claim by showing that the state itself recognized the right at issue. In a § 1983 case, the incarcerated person bears the burden of proving that a state official, acting in an official capacity, deprived them of a federally protected right. Correctional staff may raise qualified immunity, which can shield them from personal liability if their actions did not violate clearly established law.

The HALT Act sets the rules, but relies on those existing channels for enforcement. There is no dedicated HALT Act tribunal and no automatic penalty for noncompliance; the practical burden falls on the incarcerated person to work through the grievance system and, if needed, the courts.

1
New York State Senate. Senate Bill S2836 – HALT Solitary Confinement Act
2
New York State Senate. New York Correction Law Section 2 – Definitions
3
New York State Senate. New York Correction Law Section 137 – Program of Treatment, Control, Discipline at Correctional Facilities
4
New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Residential Rehabilitation Unit Program Manual
5
New York State Commission of Correction. Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement HALT Act Annual Report 2023
6
New York State Senate. Senate Passes the HALT Solitary Confinement Act