A city bill to strictly limit the use of solitary confinement in Rikers Island may finally come to a vote.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams is negotiating with Mayor Eric Adams and his team with a plan that works for all sides, including those who oppose the plan based on safety concerns, according to multiple sources familiar with the legislation.
Jail reform advocates supporting the solitary ban are upset over the ongoing delay and want city lawmakers to vote on the bill at the upcoming Dec. 20 City Council meeting.
“Now is the moment for the City Council to finally end solitary confinement once and for all in New York City jails,” said Akeem Browder, whose brother Kalief, spent about two years in solitary — then killed himself two years after being released.
“We are hopeful this legislation will be passed this term,” he added.
The latest legislative effort comes as advocates and a growing list of elected officials push in court for a federal third-party receiver to take charge of the city’s troubled jail system.
It also comes as Washington Democrats have introduced legislation in the House and the Senate that would strictly limit the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons and give local municipalities incentives to follow suit.
The United Nations considers more than 15 consecutive days of solitary confinement to be a form of torture.
Research has shown that extreme isolation behind bars can lead to long-term health issues, especially for teens and young adults. A 2021 study also found that solitary can boost the odds of someone getting rearrested after they are freed.
A study focused on Rikers and other city lockups has also shown that Black and Hispanic detainees are more likely to be thrown into solitary.
A bill to ban the use of solitary in New York City lockups was first introduced in December 2020 by former City Council member Daniel Dromm of Queens.
But the legislation was never brought to a vote by former Council Speaker Corey Johnson — even though Johnson had long professed support for the measure.
Adrienne Adams, his predecessor, has similarly said she backs a plan to limit the use of solitary.
But the proposed measure to do just that, introduced by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, has had only one public hearing. As public advocate, Williams can introduce legislation but doesn’t have power to vote on it.
On Monday, Adams’ spokesperson, Rendy Desamours, said she has worked with the Public Advocate, other elected officials, advocates and labor unions that represent staff in city jails “to make progress on the legislation.” Desamours added, “discussions and negotiations on the bill are ongoing.”
Earlier this year, Adams said she wasn’t hopeful the bill would move forward this year.
“I don’t see it moving this session quite honestly,” Adams told reporter Ben Max on Oct. 26, noting that she and her team have been working with unions “to try to get this right.”
She added that she’s been working behind the scenes on the “complex” legislation to allay concerns about the proposed restrictions causing more violence.
The legislative session finishes up at the end of the year.
The Council has also announced the reconstitution of the so-called Lippman Commission to make sure Rikers closes by 2027 as required by law. Jonathan Lippman, the state’s former chief judge, headed a similar commission which in 2017 detailed and backed the close Rikers plan.
‘Best Correctional Practices’
Last February, THE CITY reported how the proposed solitary ban was held up in part by the three unions that represent health care workers on Rikers. The unions, including the politically powerful 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, are concerned the new regulations would make it hard for their members to routinely check on incarcerated people put in some new type of isolation housing area.
The unions want City Hall to promise to hire more staff to make the new policy possible.
Three other unions representing jail officers and supervisors are also adamantly against any plan to restrict the use of solitary confinement. They argue that there is no other way to safely keep people behind bars — and staff — safe, especially after someone slashes another detainee or officer.
Advocates for incarcerated people counter that detainees who act out can be placed in larger holding areas where they are given additional programming and mental health care.
Jails in Norway — often cited as the most humane — rarely use that form of punishment, and never for long stretches.
Still, Mayor Adams appears reluctant to make any changes that will add to immediate costs and anger unions representing officers.
When he first appointed Louis Molina to head the Department of Correction, he vowed to bring back solitary for detainees who attack others.
“Enjoy the reprieve now!” Adams, a former NYPD captain, told reporters in December 2021 as he was set to take office.
Molina last week stepped down to transition to a new role as an assistant deputy mayor for public safety under Phil Banks. He was replaced by Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, who previously served as one of Molina’s top deputies.
During his tenure, Molina initially supported the proposed solitary ban and a new system created by the city’s Board of Correction.
But the board’s so-called Risk Management Accountability System (RMAS) — which took over two years to develop — was at first put on hold by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who cited a staffing crisis amid ongoing chaos in city jails.
Molina did the same day the day before the RMAS was finally about to go into effect, citing safety concerns about the plan raised by a court-appointed monitor.
“The RMAS design appears to be unlikely to deliver on the core tenets of an effective model of restricted housing — to hold people accountable for violent misconduct in a safe and effective manner,” Steve Martin, the court appointed monitor, said in a June 2022 report.
For the past six years, Martin added, his monitoring team has seen a pattern of “hasty, ill-planned implementation of these types of critical programs” which all “inevitably fail.”
More than a year later, Molina blamed Martin for why the RMAS was never implemented.
“The federal monitor did not approve the RMAS rules,” Molina told the board on November 14. “He thought it was not in alignment with best correctional practices.”
Advocates point out that during his nearly two-year tenure, Molina has blatantly disregarded policy recommendations made by Martin and his team.
“It was totally dishonest,” Scott Paltrowitz, a leading advocate for the elimination of solitary confinement, said of Molina’s testimony.
“At that moment, right when they were supposed to open it, the monitor said the department wasn’t ready,” he added. “That doesn’t mean it can’t be done or illegal. That was a different time.”