- Six inmates at a New York prison will get the chance to view the upcoming solar eclipse after they sued.
- The inmates argued their religious rights would be violated if denied the chance to witness the event.
- The state corrections department ultimately agreed to let the inmates observe the eclipse.
Six men incarcerated at a New York prison will be able to observe the rare solar eclipse that will cross the United States next week after they sued the state.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said that it has now agreed to let the inmates at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County observe the phenomenon on Monday when the moon will block the sun and darken the skies.
The religiously diverse group of inmates argued in a federal lawsuit filed last week that the upcoming eclipse holds religious significance to them and they would "be denied their statutory and constitutional rights to practice their religions" if they were not able to view the celestial event.
The plaintiffs include an atheist, a Baptist, a Seventh-Day Adventist, and followers of Islam and Santeria, according to the court documents.
"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," the plaintiffs' attorneys Chris McArdle, Sharon Steinerman, and Madeline Byrd of the law firm Alston & Bird told Business Insider in a statement.
They argued in their lawsuit that the corrections department's decision to lock down its prisons statewide on Monday illegally prohibited them from observing the solar eclipse.
"The April 8, 2024 solar eclipse is similarly expected to be a time for Christians, Santerians, Muslims, and Atheists — to name a few examples — to gather as the world goes dark for a few minutes in the middle of the day," said the lawsuit, which noted that the next total solar eclipse isn't expected to be visible in the US until 2044.
Thomas Mailey, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, told BI on Friday that the lawsuit "came to an appropriate resolution."
"In advance of the lawsuit being filed, the Department had begun performing the requisite analysis regarding religious accommodations received to view the eclipse, including an analysis on requests that were received from the six named individuals. We continued our analysis and review during the pendency of the lawsuit," Mailey said in a statement.
He added, "The Department has agreed to permit the six individuals to view the eclipse, while plaintiffs'' Counsel's firm has agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice as to the six named individuals, among other things."
Twenty-three state prisons will be in the path of totality during the eclipse and will experience total darkness for roughly up to three minutes when the moon blocks the sun on Monday, according to the corrections department. Though Woodbourne Correctional Facility is not included on that list, an interactive map by NASA shows that the prison will be impacted, at least partially, by the solar eclipse.