Segregation, Decompensation, and Psychiatric Harm: Drawing the Causal Line in New York

Stephan M. Carlson, MD, MBA, FAPA · Correctional Mental Health

When a person decompensates in segregation, three stories compete: the illness they carried in, the conditions of confinement, and the care that was or was not delivered. A forensic opinion earns its weight by holding those three apart and saying, on the record, how much each one explains. What the HALT Act actually changed New York no longer treats prolonged isolation as a routine disciplinary tool. The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act amended Correction Law Article 6-A and caps segregated confinement at no more than fifteen consecutive days, and no more than twenty total days within any sixty-day period (Correction Law §137[6][i][i]). The statute defines seg

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