New York inmates who claimed lockdown was religious violation will be able to see eclipse

Inmates at a New York prison who sued the state corrections department over a planned lockdown during the Monday total solar eclipse will be able to see the celestial event after all.

The lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York claimed that the lockdown, which would have prevented many statewide inmates from witnessing Monday's solar eclipse, constituted a violation of religious rights.

"For many, this eclipse is a moment of monumental religious significance that cannot be overlooked or dismissed out of hand," according to the lawsuit, which listed six plaintiffs of various religious faiths.

Corrections officials agreed Thursday to permit the plaintiffs – a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist, two practitioners of Santeria and an atheist – to view the eclipse in exchange for the lawsuit's dismissal, department spokesman Thomas Mailey told USA TODAY.

“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," Christopher L. McArdle, one of the attorneys representing the inmates, said in a Thursday statement to USA TODAY.

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New York, which has not experienced a total solar eclipse since 1925, is one of 13 states directly on the eclipse's path of totality.

The astral event has been widely anticipated for months, if not years, and as a result is expected to draw a heavy influx of tourists and skygazers to areas where totality will occur as the moon completely blocks the sun's disc. The rare celestial phenomenon not only includes uncharacteristic daytime darkness, but will reveal the sun's elusive outermost layer known as the corona.

The hoopla surrounding the event prompted New York corrections officials to cancel or restrict visitation at about half of the department's facilities on the day of the eclipse. In a memo issued March 11, acting commissioner Daniel Martuscello III also announced that the department would put a lockdown in place for April 8 at all its facilities due to security concerns.

Statewide prisons were to operate on a holiday schedule between 2 and 5 p.m. that day, which mandates that all inmates be confined to their their housing units except for emergency situations.

In response, six inmates Woodbourne Correctional Facility in upstate New York filed the lawsuit claiming that the decision was unconstitutional.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Mailey said the corrections department had begun the process of reviewing and considering requests for religious accommodations related to the impending eclipse. The settlement was then reached Thursday once the six plaintiffs were permitted to view the eclipse, court documents show.

"The lawsuit came to an appropriate resolution," Mailey said in a statement.

Plaintiffs say eclipse has religious meanings

The lawsuit came after one of the named plaintiffs, an atheist, received special permission last month to view the eclipse before the statewide prison lockdown was announced.

Prison officials ultimately denied permission to him and four other plaintiffs to be exempt from the lockdown order, citing its own calendar that did not list the event as a holy day. A sixth inmate said he never received a response, according to the lawsuit.

All plaintiffs claimed in the lawsuit that the solar eclipse was deeply intertwined with the teachings of their respective religions.

In Christianity, the darkness described in the Bible as accompanying Jesus’ crucifixion has been interpreted as an eclipse, while in Islam, sacred works similarly describe the passing of the Prophet Muhammad’s son.

Practitioners of Santeria also trace historical ties to chanting rituals performed during a solar eclipse. For atheists, an eclipse may not be a time for worship, but it's still a time to marvel about the natural wonders of the universe, the lawsuit contended.

"These inmates are asking for the most human of things," the lawsuit argued: "To gather and celebrate something that is greater than themselves."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]