IG report on HALT recommends electronic recordkeeping for DOCCS

The New York State Inspector General looked into whether the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, known as DOCCS, was complying with the requirements of the HALT Act.

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The New York State Inspector General looked into whether the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, known as DOCCS, was complying with the requirements of the HALT Act.

The New York State legislature passed the HALT Act back in 2021 to limit the use of solitary confinement for only the most serious cases.

"Prior to HALT, people who were held in New York State correctional facilities, could be segregated in these special housing units, or SHU cells, for up to 23 hours a day over consecutive days, weeks, months and even beyond," said Lucy Lang, New York State's Inspector General. "As you could imagine, that takes a tremendous toll on the physical and mental health of incarcerated people."

Under HALT, a person cannot be held for more than 15 consecutive days and it requires 4 hours out-of-cell time per day to be offered.

Lang said while DOCCS has increasingly been complying with HALT, its old recordkeeping system makes it hard to determine if they’re offered out-of-cell time.

"Many of the recordkeeping systems that indicate whether or not someone has been afforded the opportunity to get out of cell time, or to get congregate recreational time to have exposure to other people— we are simply unable to track that because it’s being written in hand written long books, the entries are confusing and incomplete, and they vary across the facilities."

One of her recommendations is that DOCCS upgrades to a better electronic recordkeeping system.

"It will enable increased transparency and enable oversight agencies like ours to make sure they’re complying with the law."

DOCCS responded to the report saying in part that it will “practice the requirement of tracking the offering of out-of-cell opportunities for people serving a disciplinary confinement sanction…” However, it added that delivering technology to staff for more electronic recordkeeping would be costly and time consuming.

Jerome R. Wright, co-director if the HALTsolitary Campaign said the state should go further than the IG’s report.

"The governor should demand as the highest-ranking official in the state, as the overseer of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, should demand that they follow the letter in spirit of the HALT Solitary law," said Wright.

NEWS10 reached out to NYSCOPBA for a comment on the IG’s report but was referred to DOCCS.