SCHENECTADY — The county jail administrator is urging legislators to support a resolution calling on state lawmakers to amend the controversial HALT solitary confinement Act that led to some state correction officers walking off the job earlier this year in protest.
Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Superintendent Ron Walsh recently told county lawmakers that since the HALT Act went into effect in March 2022, assaults among people at the jail has skyrocketed 179%, and is up 40% when it comes to jail guards being attacked by those incarcerated.
The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act limits the length of time an incarcerated individual can spend in segregated confinement, what is commonly known as solitary confinement, and restricts the criteria for using such confinement. If a person, however, is deemed too dangerous for the general population, aspects of HALT can be overruled. People under 21 and over 55, as well as pregnant women, are also exempt from confinement…