By Michael Gartland and Graham Rayman, published December 19, 2023
“New York City could soon become the largest big city in the country to ban most forms of solitary confinement in its jails — a measure expected to move one step closer to reality Wednesday when the City Council votes on a bill restricting the use of the policy.
The City Council bill that would largely ban solitary has solid support in the lawmaking body. But Mayor Adams said Tuesday that while he doesn’t “support” solitary confinement, he doesn’t “like” the bill as it’s currently written, either.
“They are told you no longer can live in society until your case is resolved, for the most part. They go into jail. They commit a violent act while they’re in jail,” Adams said of inmates on Tuesday during a City Hall press conference.
“This bill is saying before you put them into punitive segregation, before you take them out of population, we must have a due process. So the same violent person that committed a violent act is going to stay in the same population that he committed the violent act until there’s a due process,” he continued.”