Equally controversial is a process called debriefing, in which inmates in the supermax units are encouraged to renounce their gang ties and provide information about other members in order to be moved to lower-security settings. Because debriefing is sometimes the only way to get out, critics say, the information it yields is often tainted.

David Marcial, a prison consultant and a former official with the Connecticut Department of Correction, whose gang management program has been a model for other states, said some inmates are so disruptive that they need to be isolated. But locking down all gang members is counterproductive, he said.

“If they’re not a shot-caller and they’re not doing anything violent in the prison, why lock them up?” he said. “My concern is not whether or not you’re a gang member. My concern is that you do not cause a threat to my facility when you’re incarcerated.”

Under the state’s new plan, gang associates — now the largest number of inmates held in the high-security units — would be isolated only for actions judged to be disruptive. But gang members would still be segregated. They would be allowed to work their way out of segregation after a minimum of four years, through a step-down program. Cases of prisoners currently in the units will be reviewed.

“It’s designed to be dynamic,” said Terri McDonald, the state corrections department’s under secretary for operations. “We’re interacting with offenders — they know what’s expected of them, and their behavior, based on their own choices, dictates where they are housed.”

Mr. Specter and other civil rights lawyers said that the proposal had benefits, but that four years was too long for inmates to wait to work their way out of solitary and that the criteria for what was considered disruptive were still so broad that it was unclear how large any reduction in numbers would be.

“It’s conceivable that it won’t affect very many, and that’s the main question,” he said. “If it’s just a codification of the status quo, that’s not going to be very effective.”