NEW YORK — New York inmates are suing the state corrections department over its decision to close prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in New York state, alleges that the April 8 lockdown violates prisoners’ constitutional rights to practice their faith by preventing them from participating in a religiously significant event.
The plaintiffs are six men from different religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-day Adventist and two Santeria practitioners, as well as an atheist.
“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon of great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during the crucifixion of Jesus, while sacred Islamic works describe a similar event when the prophet’s son Muhammad died. .
The celestial event, which was last visible in the U.S. in 2017 and won’t be seen in the country again until 2044, “requires mandatory gatherings, celebrations, worship and prayer,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit states that one of the named plaintiffs, an atheist, was given special permission to view the eclipse last month with glasses that would be provided by the state, but that was before the systemwide lockdown was issued.
Four of the other plaintiffs then requested permission, but it was denied by officials who ruled that the eclipse is not listed as a holy day for their religion, the lawsuit said. The sixth inmate said he never received a response.
Corrections department spokesman Thomas Mailey said the agency does not comment on pending litigation but considers all requests for religious accommodations. He said matters related to viewing the solar eclipse are currently under review.
Daniel Martuscello III, the department’s acting commissioner, issued a memo on March 11 announcing that all state prisons will operate on a holiday schedule next Monday.
That means incarcerated individuals will remain in their housing units except in emergencies from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., which are typically normal hours for outdoor recreation in prisons, according to the lawsuit.
There will also be no visits next Monday in nearly twenty prisons on the path of totality, while visits to other penitentiaries will end at 2 p.m.
Martuscello said the department will distribute eclipse goggles to staff and incarcerated individuals in prisons along the path of totality so they can view the eclipse from their assigned work location or housing units.
Communities in the western and northern parts of the state are expected to have the best views of the total solar eclipse, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Lake Placid and Plattsburgh.
The total solar eclipse is expected to be visible in those parts of New York around 3:15 p.m. and will last only a few minutes as the moon passes between Earth and the sun, temporarily blocking the sun and turning day into night.