De Blasio pledges to end solitary confinement in NYC jails
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Advocates demand an end to the use of solitary confinement in NYC jails outside City Hall in October 2019. Photo by John McCarten/City Council
By David Brand
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged Monday to end the use of solitary confinement in municipal jails, following years of advocacy by formerly incarcerated New Yorkers and criminal justice reform groups.
De Blasio and Board of Correction Chair Jennifer Jones Austin said the city has formed a working group to make recommendations for eliminating solitary confinement — which the city refers to as “punitive segregation,” or PSEG. The nine-member Board of Correction, which sets minimum standards for city jails, will vote on the proposals in the fall.
Solitary confinement has been shown to have a devastating impact on the mental health of isolated individuals, particularly people with pre-existing mental health conditions. The Board has taken gradual steps to reduce the use of solitary confinement in recent years, with some commissioners calling for an outright ban. The Board voted in November 2019 to reduce the maximum solitary stay from 30 days to 15 days. The city eliminated solitary confinement for people 21 and under in 2015.
“Let's take the next step. Let's end solitary confinement all together,” de Blasio said Monday, three days after disciplining 17 correction officers involved in the June 2019 death of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who died of a seizure while locked in solitary confinement. Polanco had a known history of epilepsy, but that did not prevent correction officers from putting her in a solitary cell.
De Blasio said the Department of Correction will exclude individuals with several medical conditions, including a history of seizures, from being placed in solitary. The Board proposed enacting a list of conditions that preclude people from solitary confinement in November 2019.
In a statement, the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Campaign noted that the Board of Correction already prohibits DOC from placing people with certain disabilities or ailments into solitary confinement. They called on the city to immediately end the use of solitary.
“While we welcome Mayor de Blasio acknowledging the need to end solitary confinement in New York City jails, the time for working groups and discussions has long passed. Decades of research show that solitary is ineffective, dangerous, and, too often, deadly,” the HALT Solitary campaign said, while citing their recommendations for ending solitary. “The mayor has the power to eliminate this torture immediately.”
Between 2001 and October 2019, at least 374 people have died in New York City jails, the Eagle found last year. As in the case of Polanco, many of those deaths occurred while the person was isolated in solitary confinement.
Councilmember Keith Powers, chair of the Council’s Criminal Justice Committee, praised the task force formation as “a welcome step forward for those who have long fought to end a practice that is inhumane, abusive, and condemned by the international community.”
“As Layleen Polanco’s death at Rikers Island reminded us, solitary confinement puts individuals at risk while they are out of sight,” Powers said. “This news is long overdue.”
Board of Correction Vice Chair Stanley Richards, the executive vice president of the Fortune Society, will lead the four-member working group, which will include Department of Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann and Just Leadership USA President and CEO DeAnna Hoskins. The city said they have also invited Corrections Officer Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio to join the working group.
"As an African American man, who spent time in jail and prison including solitary confinement, I know firsthand the harm extreme isolation can cause,” Richards said in a statement. “The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement of this time calls for the Board of Correction, City of New York and Department of Correction to act with urgency to stop the harm of solitary confinement.”
A 2015 report by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that Black and African American inmates were 2.52 times more likely to be placed in solitary confinement than white inmates. Latino inmates were 1.65 times more likely to be locked in solitary than white inmates.
COBA, the union that represents New York City correction officers, has resisted the elimination of solitary confinement or “PSEG” because in order to preserve a key tool for punishing inmate misconduct.
Violent offenses increased in city jails last year, according to the most recent Mayor’s Management Report. COBA has contended that solitary confinement is the only option for punishing violent detainees.
“COBA’s position has always been that violent offenders who create violent conditions in jails belong in punitive segregation because they are a threat,” COBA spokesperson Michael Skelly told the Eagle in November. “Not having any consequences essentially increases violent behavior.”
