<\/p>\n
Screams echoed through<\/span> the halls of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility as women begged for their solitude to end. The sound of desperate hands banging on cell doors rang out like a solemn chorus. Exhausted, an incarcerated woman named Cici Herrera reached for a book. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way I can keep myself from thinking too much,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going crazy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At Bedford Hills, a maximum-security women\u2019s prison in Westchester County, New York, a new superintendent and a recent policy change have sharply restricted the limited freedom incarcerated people in the general population once enjoyed. They could no longer count on regular showers \u2014 times were limited to tightly controlled shifts \u2014\u00a0and indoor recreation was eliminated even on the coldest days of the New York winter. The women found themselves locked inside of their single cells for the majority of the day, in conditions detention experts\u00a0and survivors of solitary confinement compared to solitary confinement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNothing is consistent,\u201d said Herrera, one of three people incarcerated at Bedford who told The Intercept about the conditions. \u201cWe have to scream for everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The conditions likely violate state law, according to multiple detention experts, all of whom have spoken with people incarcerated at Bedford. The new restrictions put the women in the middle of a political battle between activists who fought to place restrictions on the use of solitary and prison guards who have protested their implementation.<\/p>\n New York\u2019s Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, or the HALT Act for short, limits the amount of time an incarcerated person can be forced to stay in their cell and when a prison guard can put a person in solitary, taking into account the punishment\u2019s severe harm to physical and mental health. Researchers have found that solitary confinement increases the risks of premature death both during and after incarceration<\/a>, from deaths of despair like opioid overdoses and suicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to scream for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cPeople should be receiving at least a minimum\u2026 seven hours out of cell time under the HALT Act,\u201d said Sumeet Sharma, director of policy and communications at the Correctional Association of New York. Most people at Bedford previously had some freedom of movement to access communal spaces, shower, and cook. But when his team conducted a two-day monitoring visit at Bedford in November, they found that \u201cthat\u2019s just not happening anymore,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cEssentially, people are locked in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has denied these accusations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe allegations regarding recent operational changes at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility are inaccurate and misleading,\u201d wrote Nicole March, a spokesperson for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, in a statement to The Intercept. March said the changes were implemented to deal with \u201cfrequent fights and safety concerns\u201d at Bedford Hills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n March added that many facilities still lack adequate staffing due to an unauthorized prison guard strike in spring of 2025, but that \u201cHALT programming is now fully operational in the overwhelming majority of facilities and, with respect to Bedford Hill, it has been for several months.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That compliance appears to exist \u201con paper,\u201d said Sharma, whose team confirmed that people in the general population units had lost access to communal indoor recreation space and now had to sign up to leave their cells after speaking with prison guards, officials, and incarcerated people. A written copy of the policy reviewed by The Intercept also noted the restrictions on recreation. <\/p>\n \u201cIn practice,\u201d Sharma said, even when people sign up to leave their cells, \u201cthey\u2019re not getting the statutory amount out of cell time. That appears to be a violation of the HALT Act.\u201d<\/p>\n Corrections officers in New York have long been resistant to implementing HALT. Thousands of guards went on a wildcat strike<\/a> last year after a group of corrections officers was charged with murder for brutally beating and killing an incarcerated man named Robert Brooks<\/a>. In addition to protesting accountability for Brooks\u2019s killers, the guards demanded that HALT be repealed<\/a>. They argue the law places an undue burden on them by making it harder to put people in solitary confinement, either as a punishment or a safety tool.<\/p>\n Although the guards didn\u2019t get their wish, advocates who helped get the law passed said New York corrections officers and prison officials are still refusing to implement the limits on solitary confinement and mandatory out-of-cell time throughout the system.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe legislation is not being adhered to\u201d by administrators at Bedford, said Donna Hylton, an activist who was incarcerated at Bedford Hills for 27 years and campaigned to get the law passed.<\/p>\n Herrera said she\u2019s especially worried for the women who are too old or sick to use the outdoor recreation space in winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou put somebody, 24 hours, in one cell with four walls, it\u2019s a lot to take,\u201d she said. \u201cMentally, some people can\u2019t handle this kind of situation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All three people<\/span> incarcerated at Bedford who spoke to The Intercept characterized their treatment at the hands of the guards as vindictive, reflecting a conviction that incarcerated people deserve additional punishment beyond their imprisonment.<\/p>\n Herrera and two other people incarcerated at Bedford got in touch with The Intercept via the Fight 2 Live Relief Fund, a New York abolitionist organization that has been advocating for better conditions at Bedford.\u00a0<\/p>\n An incarcerated woman named Kit, who requested anonymity because she feared retaliation from prison officials and guards, said she\u2019d heard guards call incarcerated women \u201centitled, needy, [having] \u2018princess syndrome.\u2019 It\u2019s that mentality that, oh, this isn\u2019t hard enough for these women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is where these policies are coming from \u2014 not from a desire to make the facility safer or to operate better,\u201d Kit said, \u201cbut this sick and twisted sense of entertainment and satisfaction out of the pain and the stress of incarcerated individuals who are affected by these policies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Thomas Gant, a formerly incarcerated activist and organizer with the Center for Community Alternatives who is in communication with people inside of Bedford, characterized the situation at the prison as the combined result of policy changes and retaliation from guards taking their anger out on\u00a0incarcerated people. Many guards remain dissatisfied with the end result of the strike, after which Gov. Kathy Hochul fired thousands of officers<\/a> in an already-understaffed system and increased surveillance<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relation is, we\u2019re just going to make you guys\u2019 lives as miserable as possible,\u201d he said. \u201c[Their] way of getting at you back is to say, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s staff shortages, so you guys can\u2019t go to the yard, or, you know, you can\u2019t have this visit, or I got a longer time to get you down to the visit.\u2019 These are just all retaliatory tactics, all because correction officers now have a semblance of being held accountable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association, which represents the guards, declined to comment.<\/p>\n Chloe Aquart, a senior program manager at the Center for Justice Innovation, said the culture of \u201csecondary punishment\u201d among prison guards is widespread at U.S. prisons.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s kind of how we operate in the United States,\u201d she said. \u201cSo prison isn\u2019t enough. The treatment in prison has to be an additional punishment, beyond taking you away from your family, taking you away from your community, stripping your rights.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cmost concerning\u201d change at Bedford, said Sharma, \u201cwas that you had women in general population units who weren\u2019t able to take a shower.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, he said that women were given the option to use a bucket to bathe if they were unable to get a shower slot for the day. \u201cSo someone would have the same bucket \u2026 that they\u2019re using to store some things in, or if someone is menstruating, that bucket is used to dispose of bodily fluids and bodily material. So that same bucket is essentially being refilled before that and then given to people for getting them to wash themselves,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The limited showers have also affected people whose religious practices require bathing before worship. \u201cAs a Muslim,\u201d wrote Nur, an incarcerated transgender man who wanted to remain anonymous to prevent retaliation from prison officials, in a letter to The Intercept. \u201cIt is required to perform ablution (cleansing) before prayer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if you can get a shower slot, that doesn\u2019t mean staff will actually let you out at the intended time, Nur wrote. \u201cThey are not letting people out of their cells at their allotted time,\u201d wrote Nur. \u201cIncarcerated individuals are losing patience, resulting in screaming and banging on the cell door to obtain the attention of the security staff. Sadly, we are ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n DOCCS denied the allegations of inadequate shower time and lack of religious accommodations, but confirmed that showers are limited to specific time slots.<\/p>\n \u201cShower access has not been eliminated or limited. Available daily time slots begin at 8:45am and end at 9:30pm,\u201d wrote March in an email. \u201cAdditionally, hot water is delivered to every incarcerated individual at around 6:00am. Individuals often use this hot water to wash their faces or take quick sponge baths.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n