After the City Council decided on Wednesday to outlaw the practice of solitary confinement in New York City jails, jail personnel will no longer be permitted to keep Rikers inmates alone for extended periods without supervision.
Jumaane Williams, a public advocate, sponsored the hotly contested measure that mandates that all inmates in municipal custody spend at least 14 hours a day in communal settings once they are taken into custody.
- Advertisement -
“No one leaves solitary confinement whole,” Speaking before Wednesday’s vote, Williams addressed the Council Criminal Justice Committee. “It is cruel, it is inhumane, it can ruin people’s lives and too many don’t survive.”
The measure has been postponed for years due to a long-simmering argument about outlawing solitary confinement in New York City. The vote came after that.
Although he has not stated if he will veto the measure, Mayor Eric Adams stated he opposed it and asked council members to vote against it. With 39 of 51 votes, the council was able to overcome Adams’ veto of the law.
Corrections personnel have vehemently objected to the measure, arguing that in the face of officer slashings and sexual assaults, they must have the ability to separate violent inmates.
https://3d22bed3ff782dd149eebf0a19e077c9.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html Following Wednesday’s adoption of the law, Benny Boscio, the president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, announced that the organization was considering all of its legal options.
“We will hold any councilmember who supported this reckless legislation responsible for the inevitable surge in attacks on our officers in the wake of today’s vote,” he noted. “Shame on them!”
For a considerable amount of time, advocates have fought for the rights of prisoners who suffered severe psychological damage or even passed away as a result of being kept alone in cells or caged showers.
“By effectively banning the torture of solitary confinement in all its forms in our city jails, the City Council has taken action that will save New Yorkers’ lives,” stated New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman, pleading with the mayor to “immediately” sign the measure into law.
Brandon Rodriguez, the son of Tamara Carter, passed away in 2021 after being placed in a shower cage for isolation on Rikers Island. “Amen Brandon, we did it,” In response to the recent vote, she stated. “Mommy made sure no one will ever suffer like you did.”
Solitary confinement in municipal prisons was abolished in New York City some years ago, according to the city jails department and the Adams administration. However, phrases like protective custody, restricted housing, and punitive isolation are still used by the agency. Solitary confinement standards are met by these procedures, albeit under various titles, according to Williams and other elected officials, scholars, attorneys, prisoners, and their relatives.
https://3d22bed3ff782dd149eebf0a19e077c9.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html Solitary confinement is defined by the UN as “the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact.” It states that being kept in isolation for longer than 15 days in a row constitutes torture.
A group of around ten males detained at Rikers Island on civil offenses, such as nonpayment of child support, were reportedly kept alone in solitary cells for twenty-three hours a day for over a month in November, according to a report by a news media.
The media has published other accounts in 2022 of New Yorkers detained alone in Rikers for extended periods, including in caged showers known as “de-escalation units” and in what the North Infirmary Command referred to as “restrictive housing,” which are isolated cages.
The new regulation restricts the ability of prison personnel to remove inmates from the general jail population to situations in which an inmate has participated in a “violent event” while under custody. The bill would prohibit solitary confinement for more than a four-hour “de-escalation” period, even under certain circumstances. During that time, correctional guards would have to check on detainees every fifteen minutes and report any health issues to medical personnel.
The new legislation must be implemented by the Department of Correction, and its supervision must be provided by the Board of Correction. Detainees may initiate lawsuits to enforce the law if it is not being implemented.
Former inmates of Rikers Island settled their legal claims that they were wrongfully kept in solitary confinement in court, and the two parties came to a $53 million agreement in April.
39 people voted in favor of the measure, 7 opposed, and 1 abstained. Sponsors and supporters claimed that with the assistance of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, there were sufficient votes to overcome the mayor’s veto.
“Today is a momentous day… it’s a big deal,” stated Councilmember Shaun Abreu during a committee meeting on the morning of the adaptation. Abreu supported the bill,“ This is all in the pursuit of justice and treating people with dignity and respect.”
