NYSCOPBA President Mike Powers speaks to reporters in Albany on Monday, May 10, 2021.
A union representing correction officers in New York has filed a federal lawsuit to overturn a new law passed in March to limit the use of solitary confinement in state prisons.
The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, or NYSCOPBA, claimed in the suit that the new law, known as the Humane Alternatives to Solitary Confinement Act, or HALT, violates the federal civil rights of its members.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, hinges on the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which the union argues should guarantee public employees, like their members, due process to be free from dangerous conditions created by the state.