By PHILIP MARCELO (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in upstate New York on Friday, claims that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates’ rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from participating in a religiously significant event.
Six incarcerated men with different religious beliefs, including a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist, two practitioners of Santeria, and an atheist, are the plaintiffs in the case. They are being held at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne.
The complaint explains that a solar eclipse is a rare natural event with great religious importance to many people. It points out that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus’ crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describe a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.
The celestial event, last visible in the U.S. in 2017 and not to be seen again in the country until 2044, is deemed worthy of gathering, celebration, worship, and prayer, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit notes that one of the named plaintiffs, who is atheist, had previously been given special permission to view the eclipse using state-provided glasses, but this was before the lockdown was enforced.
Subsequently, four of the other plaintiffs sought permission but were denied by officials who stated that the solar eclipse is not considered a holy day for their religions. The sixth inmate never received a response.
Thomas Mailey, a spokesperson for the corrections department, stated that the agency does not comment on ongoing legal matters but carefully considers all requests for religious accommodations, including those related to viewing the eclipse.
Daniel Martuscello III, the department’s acting commissioner, announced in a memo on March 11 that all state correctional facilities will follow a holiday schedule next Monday.
This means that incarcerated individuals will stay in their housing units except for emergencies from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., which are typically the normal hours for outdoor recreation in prisons.
Additionally, there will be no visitation at nearly two dozen prisons in the path of totality next Monday, while visitation at other correctional facilities will end at 2 p.m.
Martuscello stated that the department will provide safety glasses for staff and incarcerated individuals at prisons in the path of totality so they can observe the eclipse from their assigned work location or housing units.
Communities in western and northern parts of the state such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Lake Placid, and Plattsburgh are anticipated to have the best view of the total eclipse.
The total eclipse is projected to be visible in those areas of New York around 3:15 p.m. and last for a few minutes as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, causing a temporary blockage of the sun and turning day into night.
