New York was putting their prisons on lockdown Monday because of the eclipse, and now they’re being sued for it. A group of six inmates at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility are claiming that the lockdown violates inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by taking part in a religiously significant event. The six, who include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist, two practitioners of Santeria, and an atheist, say an eclipse has “great religious significance to many,” and they should be allowed to view it. A corrections department spokesperson said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation but takes all requests for religious accommodations under consideration. The event will be the first solar eclipse in New York for almost a century, and despite the lockdown the state allegedly made a large purchase of solar eclipse safety glasses to distribute to the prison population that will be under lockdown on Monday.
