Six inmates who sued New York over its prison lockdown will get to view solar eclipse after all
Six prisoners in New York will be able to view next Monday’s solar eclipse after suing the state’s corrections department.
The men argued the state was preventing them from practising their religions by scheduling a lockdown while the eclipse is set to take place.
What’s next? The prisoners will be able to view the eclipse after agreeing to drop their lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they cannot bring it again.
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.
Years of planning, millions of dollars, and thousands of hours of travel came to a head in 58 seconds last year above northern WA.
A crowd of people standing on a beach and staring up at the sky.
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.
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