GOUVERNEUR, New York (WWNY) – The union representing corrections officers says the state’s HALT Act needs to change or be repealed following this week’s homicide at Gouverneur Correctional Facility.
The union says it’s the third homicide at that prison since 2021 and the fourth statewide since HALT was passed.
State police say 26-year-old Luigi Cappellino was strangled to death after a fight with a cellmate, 26-year-old Luigi Cappellino. The death was ruled a homicide.
“It’s our third homicide since April 1 of 2022, the enactment of HALT and we’ve hadn’t had homicides to this level in our correctional settings in a four to five-year span,” said Michael Powers, president of NYSCOPBA.
Powers says there have been three deaths at the Gouverneur prison and four homicides statewide in the prison system since the HALT Act was passed.
The law limits the amount of time a prisoner can spend in isolation, meaning violent prisoners are back in the general population sooner.
Republicans in the state Senate and Assembly want to end the HALT Act, but haven’t found support from Democrats.
“We have a bill in that calls for its repeal. It is not moving in the Assembly docket. It is still being held somewhere in committee,” said Assemblyman Scott Gray (R. – 116th District).
Something else the HALT Act did was create Residential Rehabilitation Units, RRUs, at prisons including Gouverneur.
They’re separate housing units where inmates are sent if they act up. But the union says conditions are better in the RRUs; inmates get more perks and when they are released back into the general population, the union says the inmate may become violent just to be sent back to the RRU.
“In my opinion, it’s strictly based off of the HALT Act and the fact that there’s a rise in violence in our facilities is going unaddressed and that there’s no repercussions for any serious incident or crimes committed inside the correctional facilities,” said Powers.
State data shows that in 2021, before the HALT Act was passed, there were around 2,300 assaults on inmates and corrections officers.
In 2022, that number jumped to almost 3,000.
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