The DOCC and the OMH continue to be subject to hundreds of people in the state prisons, which are being kept in prison for isolation, which is defined under the Halt for “any form of cell imprisonment… for more than 17 hours a day.”
New York, New York – Legal Aid Society, Disability Rights supporter, and Winston & Strawn LLP He received a judicial verdict to provide class certification and deny the state’s motion, challenging the illegal use of isolation imprisonment on New Yorkrs imprisoned in state prisons in the state prisons. Read the court order.
This decision ensures that the matter will move forward by all the affected people and will remain in Kings County (Brooklyn), where the plaintiffs have resulted in a lawsuit against the Department of Reform and Community Monitoring (DOCC) and the Office of Mental Health (OMH).
This class proceedings were made in May 2024 for the ongoing violations of human alternatives to the long -term isolation imprisonment Act (Halt) by the Domestic Disabled New Yorkrs against the DOCC and OMH, on March 31, 2022, to ban the use of legislation on March 31, 2022.
Halt forbids jail and prison officials from keeping prisoners in isolation. Halt’s reservations are widely regarded by scientific consensus that people with disabilities are particularly devastating and often suffering from non -refundable medical and psychological consequences that are caused by loneliness imprisonment, and growing penny consensus that make prisons less secure.
Nevertheless, the DOCC and the OMH continue to be subject to the imprisonment of hundreds of people in the state prisons, which is praised under the Halt under “any form of cell imprisonment… for more than 17 hours a day”.
In addition, since the implementation of the Halt, the DOCC and OMH have established policies that allow the DOCC to be kept in isolation with people with disabilities, which have later traumatic stress (PTSD), depression, mental stroke, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy, epilepsy. Hindi, epilepsy is disability. All disabilities.
“This is about the protection of the rights of the most weaker people in the New York prison system,” said Catreen Haas, a prisoner’s rights plan in the Legal Aid Society. “The court rightly acknowledged the extensive nature of OMH violations, rejecting the state’s efforts to provide class certificates and rejecting the state’s attempt to transfer the matter. These decisions are allowed by all the affected people to move forward and end the illegal use of illegal and deeply harmful to the people.”
“We are proud to stand with our public interest partners and our brave nominees when we pursue accountability and systematic change,” said Eva W. Cole, partner of Winston and Strawn LLP. “With class certification, we will continue to prosecute all the affected people to get relief.”
“These legal victories are meaningful actions in the fighting of our clients,” said Victoria Peelger, a lawyer for the rights of disability rights to ensure that any disabled person is subjected to torture of isolation in the state prisons of New York. “This is the vision of Halt, and one that cannot continue to avoid docks and OMHs.”
Background on some plaintiffs
Morris Anthony
Morris Anthony is a 42 -year -old black man who has been imprisoned by the DOCC since 2014 and is legally blind. The DOCC has approved it to get a residence for his disability. Despite being exempt from the imprisonment of isolation, the DOCC has targeted Mr Anthony for a whole term since Halt was implemented on March 31, 2022.
In the long run, when Mr Anthony was kept under mid -state reform facility from October 2021 to May 2023, the DOCC restricted it to his cell on Thursday between 19 and 20 hours on Monday. On Friday, weekends and most of the holidays, the DOCC closed it for 22 to 23 hours every day.
The DOCC once again organized Mr Anthony in a residential rehabilitation unit (RRU) in isolation from May 2023 to January 2024 at the Opestat Reformation Facility. There are units created under the RRS Halt, which aimed to change the imprisonment of isolation with therapatic programming, but which CDOCC has served as a format that has worked as a shape. De facto Loneliness by failing to provide time or programming outside the cell.
The DOCC has also kept Mr Anthony in his cell in the so -called “turning unit” for 20 hours a day, in which the Vande is considered another one of the imprisonment of isolation.
Mr Anthony compared the experience of loneliness to violence, saying it was like being trapped in a “trunk” or “coffin” where “you can’t get out.” According to legal action, it tolerates blackout, despair, classrophobia and extreme frustration because of this extreme imprisonment and isolation.
Andy Gonico
Andy Gonico is a 39 -year -old black and Spanish man who has been imprisoned by the DOCC since 2019 and has been kept in isolation despite hearing and mental health disabilities. Under the policies of the DOCC and OMH, it is not exempt from the imprisonment of loneliness despite being exempt in disability. Mr Gonico was kept in isolation, including the Special Housing Unit (“Show”), when he was imprisoned in Abbin and Clinton reform facilities, during which time he was locked in his cell for about 222 to 24 hours a day. According to legalism, isolation and sensory deprivation – which includes forced isolation from his family – increased Mr Gonico’s depression and anxiety, causing feelings of despair, despair and hypergellion.
Legal Aid Society There is an easy but powerful reason: to ensure that New Yorkers are not denied the right to justice equal to justice because of poverty. For about 150 years, we have protected, defended and advocated those who have long been struggling quietly. Every day, in every borough, legal aid society changes the lives of our clients and helps improve our communities.
Support for Disability Rights (DRA) – With the offices of California, New York, and Illinois, an important national non -profitability of disability rights is a legal center. Its mission is to advance equal rights and opportunities for people with all kinds of disabilities across the country. The DRA represents all kinds of disabilities in complex, changing the system, class action cases. Thanks to the DRA’s ideology, people with disabilities across the country have improved dramatically access to education, health care, employment, transportation, destruction preparation, voting and accommodation. For more information, visit www.dralegal.org
Winston and Strawn LLP An international law firm with 15 offices in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. More information about firm is available at www.winston.com
