Six inmates who sued New York’s corrections department over its decision to lock down prisons during a total solar eclipse taking place over North America next Monday will get to watch the celestial event after all.
Lawyers for the six men, who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in upstate New York, said on Friday (Australian time) that they had reached a settlement with the state that would allow the men to view the solar eclipse “in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs”.
They filed a federal lawsuit last week arguing the scheduled April 8 lockdown violated inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.
The six men include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist, two practitioners of Santeria, and an atheist.
Thomas Mailey, a spokesperson for the corrections department, said the department had agreed to permit the six inmates to view the eclipse after they agreed to drop their lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they cannot bring the suit again.
“The lawsuit came to an appropriate resolution,” he added in an emailed statement,
The department said earlier this week that it took all requests for religious accommodations under consideration, and those related to viewing the eclipse were currently under review.
Daniel Martuscello III, the department’s acting commissioner, issued a memo last month ordering all incarcerated people to remain in their housing units next Monday from 2pm to 5pm New York time — generally the hours for outdoor recreation — while the eclipse is due to take place at about 3:25pm.
Australians will miss out on this total solar eclipse — the moment when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, temporarily blocking sunlight — but won’t have to wait too long (on a cosmic scale) for another one.
Sydney and parts of WA, the NT and Queensland are due to experience a total solar eclipse on July 22, 2028.
AP/ABC