The Halt Act is at the center of an ongoing unauthorized strike by New York's corrections officers, who are demanding its repeal.
Passed in 2021, the state law limits solitary confinement—banning it for those under 21, over 55, pregnant, or disabled, and restricting its duration to a maximum of 15 days.
The Nelson Mandela Rules, adopted by the United Nations, define segregated confinement for more than 15 days as torture.
Jerome Wright, a Buffalo native who served over 30 years in prison for second degree murder, manslaughter and related charges, spent years in solitary, with his longest stint lasting two and a half years.
As co-director of the HALT solitary campaign, he led efforts to see the law passed.
WBFO’s Holly Kirkpatrick spoke with Wright Thursday, asking him about the act as well as the charges against corrections officers in the December death of inmate Robert Brooks unsealed Thursday afternoon.
Brooks died after being beaten by multiple officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County. The incident was caught on body-worn cameras, triggering widespread outrage.
A transcript of the conversation with Wright is below, which you can hear by clicking "Listen," above. The conversation has been edited for length.
Transcript
WBFO: Why was that [HALT] campaign so important and personal to you?
WRIGHT: Well, really because I myself suffered the trauma and torture of being placed in solitary confinement for a number of years, aggregately, seven and a half, one single time was for two and a half years for something I absolutely did not do, and I know that they use it as a punishment, because of their paradigm of perpetual punishment. And I know how it can discombobulate people's lives. I know more deaths happen in there.
WBFO: So the corrections officers on the unsanctioned strike across the state, they're asking for, amongst other things, the HALT act to be repealed. What's your take on that request?
WRIGHT: Let me say, how can you repeal something that you never fully implemented? That's like saying something is broken before you even try it. They never fully implemented neither the spirit nor the letter of the law as it applies to HALT and they talking about it is the reason for their problems that is unconscionable. It's a blatant lie. But for John C public, who doesn't know how the system works, then they may go for that. But I'm telling you unequivocally, there's no correlation between what's going on in there and HALT. But this, this strike, is a diversion tactic to distract the people away from the lynching and murder of Robert Brooks, where I am right now, in the Oneida County court office waiting for those officers to be given their arraignment. That is what it is about, why all of a sudden they decide they want to strike now, when this case is taking national headlines?
WBFO: Jerome Wright, Co-Director of the HALT solitary campaign, thanks for joining me today.
WRIGHT: You're welcome.
