By Ariama C. Long, January 11, 2024
The New York City council passed bills last December that ban the use of solitary confinement in city jails, a practice that is considered a form of psychological torture with lasting trauma for those incarcerated, and would require the NYPD to publicly report on all police-civilian investigative stops.
The solitary ban, sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, states that all people in city custody would have at least 14 hours of out-of-cell time in shared spaces and would allow separation from the general population only in instances where a person engages in a violent incident in custody.
“The Council has taken historic strides to advance justice and safety by banning solitary confinement and improving police transparency,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams in a statement. “The physical and psychological harm caused by solitary confinement leads to increased death and violence in jails, endangering those incarcerated, as well as correction officers and staff. When formerly incarcerated New Yorkers eventually return to their communities, the lasting trauma of solitary confinement follows them home, and affects us all as neighbors and members of a shared community.”
Solitary confinement is defined by Penal Reform International as the segregation, physical isolation, or lockdown of an individual who is incarcerated or a detainee confined to their cell for the majority of 24 hours in a day and allowed minimal interaction with others as a form of punishment. Further research shows that the use of this practice, even for shot periods of time, can have lasting impacts on a person like anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, paranoia, psychosis, self-harm, suicide, and increase instances of violence.
This endangers those incarcerated in city jails, as well as correction officers and staff, said city council. For those who have already transitioned from incarceration, the lasting trauma of solitary confinement has also been shown to induce acute anxiety, depression, psychosis, and other impairments that seriously hinder their capacity to reintegrate into society, said city council, felt most acutely among Black and brown communities in the city who have high levels of incarceration.
“Solitary confinement is inhumane, and its presence in our city is indefensible,” said Williams in a statement. “Committing an infraction in jail can cause you to lose privileges, not basic human rights. People in solitary are isolated, denied human contact and connection, denied support, and come out of these deplorable conditions worse than when they went in—and some don’t come out at all. Banning solitary—not just in name, but in practice—is good for public safety. This bill will make our jails and our city safer, and correct an immoral injustice that has no place in New York.”
The NYC Department of Correction (DOC) said in response to an Amsterdam News inquiry that it “does not practice solitary confinement and has not practiced solitary confinement since 2019.” Solitary confinement implies that an individual is in a cell for 22 hours or more in a day without meaningful human contact with others. This is not a practice of the Department of Correction, said a DOC spokesperson.
“We believe the implementation of Intro-549-A as written would jeopardize the people who live and work in our jails—the very people we are supposed to protect,” said the DOC spokesperson. “The new law, if implemented, eliminates the department’s ability to respond to acts of violence—both assaults on staff and violence inflicted against other incarcerated people, including sexual assault.”
The Council also voted to pass the How Many Stops Act (HMSA), which would require the NYPD to publicly report on police investigative stops, provide public access to reporting on vehicle stops, overtime and consent searches, and mandate annual reports on donations made to the NYPD that exceed $1 million. Currently, the NYPD is only required to issue reports on “Level 3” or “reasonable suspicion” stops, where an officer has the legal authority to search and detain someone. The aim is to get accurate information about stop-and-frisk practices, which historically has targeted Black and Latino individuals in the city at disproportionately high rates, and was deemed unconstitutional by a federal court in 2013.
“HMSA will allow for policing data related to stops of New Yorkers at the hands of NYPD public information,” said Councilmember Alexa Aviles in a statement. “This data will shed light on what many New Yorkers believe is a pattern of racial profiling from the NYPD and will help increase accountability and transparency. The relationship between the NYPD and our communities has consistently been filled with tension. With this higher standard of reporting, we can begin to repair harm and establish a consistent structure of accountability. While this legislation will not resolve everything, I want to thank the families of victims of police violence who have worked tirelessly in pursuit of justice, and we honor the memory of their loved ones with the passage of today’s legislation that will bring us closer to true community safety.”
Mayor Eric Adams, who has a background as a NYPD officer, has shown resistance to the solitary ban and HMSA.
At an ethnic media roundtable on Dec. 22 last year, he said that he’s behind punitive segregation, which some believe is the same as solitary but for shorter periods of time, to protect other prisoners during or immediately after a violent incident. “I don’t support solitary confinement. Here’s what I support, punitive segregation,” said Adams at the roundtable. “I support that if inmate Johnson just slashed inmate Bobby, inmate Johnson should not still be in general population and according to what’s being called for, inmate Johnson before he can be removed from [gen pop] he has to have some sort of due process.”
Adams firmly believes that both bills would usurp police resources and make the city less safe. NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, in a recent interview, added that the HMSA is “ill conceived.”
Anthony Dolci, director and founder of the Stop False Police Reporting Group and Initiative, said that the Mayor’s opposition to HMSA suggests that holding police officers accountable for their actions is not a priority. “The ‘How Many Stops?’ Act is crucial in preventing wrongful searches and ensuring innocent people are treated fairly during police investigations,” said Dolci. “It is important to hold police officers accountable for their actions, as this legislation aims to do, in order to prevent unjust searches and protect the rights of the innocent.”
Adams is “reviewing options” but had not definitively stated that he would veto the ban.