‘Solitary by another name’: NY lawmakers slam city’s new isolation plan

Cages line a hallway of the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island. The cages are connected to cells and would be used to detain people punished with isolation.  Photo via BOC, obtained by FOIL request

By David Brand

Three state lawmakers are urging New York City’s jails oversight board to truly eliminate solitary confinement after recently touring isolation units on Rikers Island.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymembers Kenny Burgos and Zohran Mamdani made an unannounced visit April 16 to the North Infirmary Command, a Rikers jail with units that the city has cited as a model of a “humane alternative” to traditional solitary cells. Mayor Bill de Blasio has said new rules put forth by the nine-member Board of Correction, which sets minimum standards for city jails, “will ban solitary confinement altogether.”

The lawmakers, however, said the new units mirror existing solitary confinement spaces by keeping detainees inside cages, even during “out-of-cell” time.

“Replacing existing restrictive housing with these units is simply creating solitary by another name,” Burgos said. “We call on the Board of Correction to revise their proposed rule and create true alternatives to isolated confinement.”

Photos of the proposed units obtained by advocates through a Freedom of Information Law request show mesh metal cages connected to traditional jail cells in the North Infirmary Command, or NIC. A row of such cages line a narrow hallway.

The Board of Correction also released a Department of Correction rendering of the proposed isolation cells, which feature a windowless box connected to a mesh cage with a desk and television.

A rendering of an isolation unit under rules proposed by the city’s Board of Correction. Rendering via BOC

Advocates have for decades called on the city to prohibit the use of solitary confinement as punishment because of the devastating impact of isolation on mental health, especially for young people and people with mental illness.

In March, the Board of Correction unveiled new proposed rules for isolating detainees through a three-tiered punishment system. Under the guidelines, people in solitary would spend at least 10 hours a day outside their cells, though they would remain in the caged area connected to the cell. They would have the opportunity to socialize with at least one other person in a separate caged area.

Detainees would also have access to case managers, counselors and five hours of programming, though that could all take place inside their cells or cages.

Under proposed solitary confinement rules, Rikers detainees would be placed in a cell connected to a caged area for “out of cell” activities. Photo via BOC by FOIL request

Justice reform advocates have criticized the rules as not going far enough to limit solitary confinement, or what the city calls “punitive segregation.”

More than 150 advocates, nonprofit groups and elected officials sent a letter to the Board last week calling on the agency to amend the rules to ban solitary confinement for vulnerable individuals and to ensure “out of cell” time means outside a cage, too. They submitted the letter as part of a public comment period on the proposed rules.

“We cannot continue to pretend a system that cages and dehumanizes people corrects or rehabilitates anyone,” Ramos told the Eagle. “We must move towards a system of true rehabilitation — offering support and resources, not deprivation.”

The Board of Correction declined to comment for this story and instead pointed to a previous response.

Earlier this month, the Board’s executive director, Meg Egan, told the Eagle that the agency welcomes feedback from the public and will incorporate some of the criticism into its decisions.

“Public comment from stakeholders — including people in custody, staff and their loved ones and advocates — is critical to the Board of Correction’s rule-making process,” Egan said. “The experience, wisdom, ideas, and energy of these experts will inform the Board’s final rule to end solitary.”

The proposed rule changes remain unpopular with correction staff and their supporters. The union representing New York City jail guards says solitary is a key tool for enforcing discipline and separating dangerous detainees from staff and peers.

Correction Officer Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio called the new proposal a “recipe for disaster” in a statement last month.