A federal judge has ordered New York State to provide significantly more out-of-cell time and therapeutic programming for mentally ill inmates at the Mid-State Correctional Facility.

Friday's ruling stems from a lawsuit filed on behalf of nine prisoners who alleged they were kept in near-solitary confinement—sometimes 24 hours a day—without the treatment required by state and federal law. Judge Mae D'Agostino's preliminary injunction mandates expanded therapeutic programming and out-of-cell time for inmates.

Newsweek contacted Disability Rights New York and Prisoners' Legal Services of New York for comment via email outside normal office hours on Monday.

Why It Matters

The order could reshape how New York prisons treat mentally ill inmates and may ripple across the state system. It al

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