Judge OKs sweeping plan to reduce NY solitary confinement

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge approved a sweeping plan to reduce solitary confinement in New York state prisons Thursday, saying she hopes the deal to end decades-old practices becomes a model for other states confronting the harmful effects of extreme isolation.

Asked about the finalized deal, a spokesman for the New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association referred questions to a December statement from the union calling it "simply wrong to unilaterally take the tools away from law enforcement officers" working dangerous jobs.

Scheindlin cited literature saying inmates in solitary exhibit symptoms including hypersensitivity to stimuli, hallucinations, increased anxiety, lack of impulse control, severe and chronic depression, appetite and weight loss, heart palpitations, sleep problems and depressed brain function.

Prisoners also had requested better mental health treatment, greater access to religious services and reforms to protect inmates from physical and sexual abuse and from unjust disciplinary techniques.