A group of criminals in New York who were locked up during the Eclipse were able to see it after fighting the prison for trying to lock it down during the event.
It has been decided that six inmates at Woodbourne Correctional Facility will be able to watch the Eclipse outside “in line with their deeply held religious beliefs.”
Lawyer Christopher McArdle said, “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 line with their deeply held religious beliefs.”
The group first sued the prison, saying that locking down the prison against their will broke their constitutional rights because they planned to do so for safety reasons during the solar event.
The plaintiffs said that the Eclipse was a “rare, natural event that holds great religious significance for many.” There are people from many groups among the plaintiffs, such as Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and Santería.
In their case, they even used parts of the Bible that talked about the eclipse and a similar part of an Islamic prayer to help illustrate their point.
Before this lawsuit was even launched, a prison spokeswoman said that they were already thinking about religious exemptions for the Eclipse. There is no word on how many exceptions they will make, but this case might let other people see the sun event as well.
