BOC unanimously approves solitary ban rules
/
The Board of Correction on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve its rules for the implementation of a new law banning solitary confinement in the city’s jails. Screenshot via BOC
By Jacob Kaye
The city’s Board of Correction on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve its rules for the implementation of a new law banning solitary confinement in the city’s jails.
The vote from the watchdog group charged with oversight over the city’s Department of Correction marks a major win for the City Council, which earlier this year overrode a mayoral veto to get the bill banning solitary confinement known as Local Law 42 passed into law.
But while the approval of the rules for the ban should mark the final step before the law’s implementation on July 28, one massive hurdle remains – a legal challenge from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and the DOC is ongoing and could indefinitely delay the enactment of the solitary confinement ban before it even begins.
Despite the legal challenge, the Board of Correction moved forward with its work on Tuesday, passing the new rules into a document detailing the minimum standards for detention the city must provide to those it keeps behind bars.
While the BOC has seen a change in its membership in recent months, losing several members whose views often aligned with criminal justice advocates and gaining members chosen by the Adams administration who are less likely to side with advocates, the board’s approval of the rules was unanimous.
But just as soon as the board approved the rules, the DOC’s acting general counsel Nancy Suvasta told them that the city’s legal challenge to the rules will remain.
The city claims that if the ban on solitary confinement is implemented as drawn up by the Council and the board, the DOC will fall out of compliance with the ongoing consent judgment in the detainee rights case known as Nunez v. the City of New York.
The city’s attorneys earlier this month called on federal Judge Laura Swain, who oversees the case, to suspend the law until the federal monitor Swain appointed to track the Department of Correction’s compliance with the consent judgment has had time to approve its implementation.
The monitor, Steve J. Martin, has previously called into question the DOC’s ability to safely implement the law, while also lauding its intention.
Swain is expected to make a decision about the city’s request on July 9.
Under the BOC’s rules, incarcerated individuals would be prevented from being held in an isolated cell for more than two hours per day within a 24-hour period and for more than eight hours at night directly after an alleged offense occurred – the confinement would be referred to as a “de-escalation” period.
Should corrections officials determine that further confinement is required to de-escalate a situation, an incarcerated person could be held for up to four hours total in a 24-hour period.
The law would also allow for people in custody being placed in restrictive housing to have a hearing on whether or not their placement in restrictive housing is necessary. During that hearing, they would be allowed to be represented by an advocate, be it a law student, paralegal or another incarcerated person.
The mayor, DOC Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, correctional officers and others working with the DOC have, for several years, claimed that the city no longer uses solitary confinement on Rikers Island as a form of punishment for those who have allegedly committed a violent offense while behind bars.
However, accounts from detainees, their attorneys and advocates claim otherwise.
BOC member Bobby Cohen, who has long been one of the most forceful advocates for the city’s detained population on the board, said on Tuesday that the DOC’s claim is incorrect.
“They misspeak,” he said.
During the meeting, Cohen largely spoke out against solitary confinement, a practice that has been deemed torture by the United Nations.
“There is no evidence that solitary confinement makes the jails safer,” Cohen said. “Many people I've spoken to in solitary have no idea why they're there.”
“Solitary is cruel and unusual,” he added. “It is not necessary. It does not improve behavior. It does not make the jail safer and reinforces the relationships between people in custody and staff, which are dangerous for all.”
Advocates who have long fought for the ban on solitary, which was passed by the Council during the final moments of last year’s legislative session, celebrated the BOC’s vote on Tuesday.
“We thank the Board of Correction for doing the right thing by voting today to adopt their rules implementing Local Law 42,” said Victor Pate, the co-director of the #HALTsolitary Campaign. “We appreciate the Board recognizing that people in New York City’s jails must be treated more humanely.”
“Now that the Board and a supermajority of the City Council have spoken, it is time for the mayor and Department of Correction to implement the law and these rules to finally end solitary confinement and utilize alternative forms of separation proven to reduce violence and better protect people’s health,” Pate added.
