More than four years after the death of a transgender woman in solitary on Rikers Island galvanized the nation, the City Council Wednesday passed legislation to strictly limit the use of the punishment that the United Nations has deemed torture.
The 39 to 7 vote, with one abstention, is the culmination of even longer years of advocacy and gives the Council a veto proof majority should Mayor Eric Adams move to block the legislation.
Paradoxically, Adams is against the legislation while also contending the city’s Department of Correction (DOC) does not use solitary confinement as a punishment.
“Instead of promoting a humane environment within our jails, the Council’s bill would foster an environment of fear and instability,” said mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak. “It would make it harder to protect people in custody, and the predominantly Black and brown workers charged with their safety, from violent individuals.”
Supporters of the legislation argue that locking people in isolation for long stretches does serious mental harm and actually makes city jails — and streets — less safe.
“We want to make sure that the psychological effects of isolation that are proven is not something that is done anywhere in the city,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the bill’s sponsor. “And hopefully that will expand across the country because we know that it’s torture.”
Under the bill, all people in DOC custody would be entitled to at least 14-hours of out of cell time. It would allow jail officials to isolate detainees — who attack others or act out or try to harm themselves — for a maximum of four hours.
Those people could be brought to “de-escalation” units where they would have to be be checked on by staff every 15 minutes. They also must have access to a tablet or device that allows them to make phone calls or summon medical staff.
“This is about safety at Rikers,” Williams said before the vote.
The city’s solitary confinement practices came under national scrutiny after the death of Layleen Polanco on June 7, 2019. The 27-year-old transgender woman was in the ninth day of a 20-day solitary confinement sentence when she was found lifeless inside her Rikers cell. She was being held in lieu of a $500 bond for misdemeanor sex work and drug possession charges.
Other jails and prisons that have drastically reduced the use of solitary confinement use bigger spaces to hold individuals who act out and boost social programming. They include the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in New Jersey, Nebraska Department of Corrections and the North Carolina adult correction and juvenile justice system.
“For decades, solitary confinement has been used as a disciplinary tool in our jail system, and the reality is this: no matter what you call it, solitary confinement is horrific, and inhumane,” said Councilmember Carlina Rivera, chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice.
A bill to ban the use of solitary in New York City lockups was first introduced in December 2020 by former Councilmember Daniel Dromm.
On Wednesday, he said he first learned about solitary through a formerly incarcerated friend, who spent 150 days in isolation on Rikers. As a council member he also recalled a visit to the jails complex where he saw a teenaged boy in solitary with his face pressed up against the glass.
“It’s torture, it comes down to torture, and I’ve always said that Rikers is a hell hole, but imagine being tortured in a hell hole,” he said.
What Solitary?
But not all city lawmakers support the solitary measure.
“These are people who are in the jail system who have then decided to go out on a limb and assault, stab, slash, murder, sexually assault another inmate or a correction officer,” said City Councilman Joe Borelli, the Republican minority leader who represents parts of Staten Island.
He was joined at a press conference before the vote by the leaders of the three unions representing correction officers and supervisors.
They are all also vehemently opposed to the measure, arguing that restricting who can be isolated — and for how long — makes the jails unsafe.
“The DOC will not regain control of its jails without punitive segregation and a reformed use of force policy which allows us to effectively defend ourselves against the inmates,” said Joe Russo, president of the Assistant Deputy Wardens / Deputy Wardens Association.
Councilmember Vickie Paladino, a Republican who represents parts of Queens, also opposed the ban.
“Wake up! There’s no such thing as solitary confinement. The hole has been covered up for 10 years or more!” she said in the Council chambers to boos before her vote.
The Correction Department no longer technically uses so-called solitary units or what is more recently referred to as punitive segregation.
But Rikers officials still isolate incarcerated people for long stretches in intake cells and other housing units located away from general population areas, according to multiple jail insiders as well as current and former detainees.
Earlier this year, the DOC tried to open a special unit for detainees accused of arson. The proposed unit was described by one jail insider as a “dungeon” like section on Rikers with poor lighting and isolated from other housing areas. The unit was shut down before it ever formally opened after a federal monitor overseeing the department voiced his objections.
Detainees who are deemed trouble makers or violent are also sometimes placed in Enhanced Supervision Housing units, which were introduced in 2015 as an alternative to solitary.
Some 162 people were in those units as of Tuesday, according to DOC spokesperson Frank Dwyer. People inside that unit can be placed in so-called restraint desks for hours where their feet are shackled to the ground.
‘We Did It’
During the push for the solitary ban, lawmakers and advocates invoked Polanco and 16-year-old Kalief Browder, who in 2010 was sent to Rikers after allegedly stealing a backpack.
On Rikers, he did multiple stints in solitary confinement and was seen on video in one incident being attacked by an officer. He was released three years later due to a lack of evidence. Browder committed suicide in 2015 as his story helped drive a national movement to end solitary confinement for youth.
The United Nations considers more than 15 consecutive days of solitary confinement to be a form of torture and believes it should be generally banned.
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 re-arrested 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.
“New York City will never torture our way to public safety,” said Councilmember Tiffany Caban, a Queens Democrat whose district encompasses Rikers Island, before she voted in favor of the bill. “The purpose of this bill is to protect detainees from the horrors of solitary confinement.”
For some like Tamara Carter, whose son Brandon Rodriguez, 25, died in a shower by an intake housing area, the vote was personal. He was placed in the shower pen for eight hours as a punishment after he got into a fight with officers, according to a review of his death.
“Amen Brandon, we did it,” she said, “Mommy made sure no one will ever suffer like you did.”