Common-sense choices in upstate are often not embraced by downstate Democrats with ties to New York City. It is a chief reason the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Committee to reform the severely flawed act and help address the ongoing staffing crisis in New York’s prisons has not happened.

Republicans, however, are attempting to keep the pressure on due to safety concerns and understaffed positions. “After years of policies that have driven correction officers out of the workforce and made our prisons more dangerous for both staff and inmates, it’s no surprise our correctional system is in crisis,” said Assembly Republican Leader Ed Ra, R-Franklin Square. “Instead of addressing one of the root causes — the HALT Act — the state has relied on temporary fixes like lowering hiring standards and spending more than $1 billion dollars to deploy the National Guard. The HALT Committee offered recommendations developed and endorsed by the administration’s own agencies. Everyone deserves to go to work knowing their safety is a priority — not an afterthought.”

Key provisions of the proposed legislation include:

— Expanding the list of criminal behavior eligible for segregated confinement to include conduct consistent with violent felony offenses under state Penal Law, acts so heinous or destructive that placement in the general population creates a significant safety risk, lewd conduct or sexual harassment of staff or incarcerated individuals, aggravated harassment of an employee by an incarcerated individual and patterns of extortion by gangs or criminal enterprises.

— Removing language that currently prevents individuals involved in riots, escapes or attempted escapes from being placed in segregated confinement.

— Allowing short-term disciplinary confinement in a Special Housing Unit or Residential Rehabilitation Unit for individuals who repeatedly engage in misconduct not eligible for disciplinary confinement, after other interventions have failed.

— Allowing short-term protective custody in segregated confinement when no safe housing alternative is available.

— Providing DOCCS with greater flexibility in administering out-of-cell programming and managing repeat offenders.

Last month’s brutal attack on a counselor and corrections officer at Lakeview Correctional Facility in Brocton as well as last year’s work stoppage should have been enough to have brought these changes already. But those unconnected to the hazards inside these buildings, specifically those in the state capital, keep ignoring an important crisis.