UPDATE: Christopher L. McArdle, Alston & Bird partner provided Audacy with the following statement Thursday:
“We are pleased that, in response to our lawsuit alleging religious discrimination, New York State has entered into a binding settlement agreement that will allow our six clients to view the solar eclipse in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
ORIGINAL STORY: Prisoners in New York were told they wouldn’t be able to witness a total solar eclipse in the skies over North America next Monday – even though it will occur during their typical yard time. Now, they’re suing.
“The six named Plaintiffs come from varying backgrounds and hold different religious beliefs, but all share the following in common: first, they are incarcerated at Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County, New York; second, they have each expressed a sincerely held religious belief that April’s solar eclipse is a religious event that they must witness and reflect to observe their faiths,” said the suit, filed March 29 and shared by CBS News.
It went on to say that the plaintiffs – Jeremy Zielinski, Travis Hudson, Bruce Moses, Oscar Nunez, Jean Marc Desmarat, and David Haigh – will be denied their statutory and constitutional rights if they are not allowed to witness the celestial phenomena.
According to CBS News, New York state even purchased eclipse glasses for its prison population as part of preparations for the April 8 event. However, it then decided to restrict incarcerated people to their housing units during the eclipse. Plaintiffs argue that this illegally bars them from seeing it.
KRLD reported last month that the eclipse is the “most anticipated celestial event of the year,” and the lawsuit outlines how it is considered important by several belief systems.
“This eclipse is going to be breathtaking, with an expected totality duration of 4 minutes and 27 seconds,” said the KRLD report. “That’s nearly twice as long as the total eclipse of 2017.”
In the U.S., a total eclipse won’t be visible again for another two decades.
“It’s just an, not only a scientific phenomena, but an emotional one as well. Literally everyone under the sun is the stakeholder in this,” said science educator Dan Schneiderman, as quoted by CBS.
NASA has published a schedule of when the eclipse can be seen at different locales throughout the country. Per that list, it will be visible from the Buffalo, N.Y., area at 2:04 p.m. ET Monday. CBS reported that the inmates must stay in their housing from to 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and that the state claims that the restrictions are in place for safety reasons.
“This is during their normal yard time,” said Sharon Steinerman of the Alston & Bird Law Firm. “So all that we’re asking is for them to be allowed in the yard when they're normally allowed in the yard, with the eclipse glasses that the department has already purchased for them.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that inmates in nearby Vermont are not barred from watching the event. They are asking a judge to decide the case before the week is out.
According to the National Institute of Corrections, the number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of New York correctional authorities was 34,128 as of Dec. 31, 2020.