Reps Endorse Torture
Dear Editor,
Recent statements put out by our elected representatives
have left me feeling disheartened, as it seems that our representatives in
Albany are upset that torture has been outlawed in New York prisons.
Joe Sempolinski, our State Assemblyman, calls for the HALT
Act to be repealed to "restore safety to New York's prisons". George
Borrello, our State Senator, sent a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul demanding
the "disastrous HALT Act" be repealed. What is the HALT Act, you may
wonder? Passed in 2022, The HALT Solitary Confinement Act limits the length of
time a person can be placed in solitary confinement as a means of control in
prison.
A 2020 press release from the UN titled "Prolonged
solitary confinement amounts to psychological torture" makes a very
unambiguous case for the elimination of the use of long term solitary
confinement. The UN's Nelson Mandela Rules, created to honor the experience and
suffering of the late Nelson Mandela, prohibit long term solitary confinement.
The HALT Act also prohibits people under 21, people over 55, people with
disabilities, and people who are pregnant or post partum from being put in long
term solitary confinement.
So, let me get this straight. NY State prisons used to
routinely use torture as a means of control. Albany passed a law to stop this
torture. The Department of Corrections union, in part, went on strike because
they can't torture people. And Sempolinski and Borrello are sending out
official statements complaining about torture being outlawed?
Shouldn't they be more upset that torture was ever allowed
in the first place?
Amie Acton
Alfred Station
