Onondaga County Jail Plans Renovations to Comply with State Isolation Rules

Syracuse, N.Y. — The state prison regulator last week ordered the downtown Syracuse jail to provide inmates in solitary confinement with the out-of-cell time required by state law.

Onondaga County Justice Center officials say they are aware of the problem and have a plan to fix it.

The jail on South State Street was considered state-of-the-art when it opened in 1995, but renovations are needed to meet new requirements, according to Undersheriff Jeffrey Passino.

So-called “day spaces” — 25-square-foot enclosures — will be built outside prison cells to allow inmates to spend time outside their cells, Passino said.

Atlas Fence has a contract to build the additions for about $200,000, he said, though he wasn’t sure when construction would begin. Plans already approved are being reworked to add electronic monitoring capabilities, he said.

“If we could just have the living spaces built and put in as we wished and as we directed,” Passino said, “it would have been done already.”

The New York State Commission of Correction, which oversees prisons, approved the plan last year, spokeswoman Kirsten Conlay said.

There are two types of solitary confinement under New York state law. The state legislature overhauled the law three years ago when it passed the HALT Act.

A more benign version is called “solitary confinement.” Prisoners are kept in their cells for up to 17 hours a day and allowed outside for the remaining seven hours.

A more rigorous version is “solitary confinement.” Prisoners are kept in their cells for more than 17 hours a day but must be released within four hours. They must also receive programming five days a week.

The commission cited allegations against the Syracuse downtown jail that it violated isolation rules.

Of the 422 inmates in the jail as of Wednesday, 38 were in isolation, according to Thomas Newton, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office. He could not say how many of those inmates were in conditions that met the state’s definition of isolation.

The commission ordered the sheriff’s office to submit documentation demonstrating compliance with state regulations by Sept. 30.

Reporter Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at [email protected] Or @mossjon7.