Councilman Joseph Borelli (R – South Shore) and Minority Leader Steve Matteo (R – Mid Island) have written to the Board of Corrections in support of Department of Corrections Commissioner Ponte’s plan to delay the ban on solitary confinement for inmates ages 18-21. Additionally, they are asking the Board to wholly reconsider the ban, and to instead reform punitive confinement policy in a way which achieves reduction goals but preserves the ability of the Department of Corrections to utilize solitary confinement for the system’s most violent and non-compliant prisoners.

The Board of Corrections is scheduled to meet tomorrow, January 12th, and will vote on delaying the solitary confinement ban until June of this year. Commissioner Ponte suggested the delay after attacks on Correction Officers by inmates of this age group last week and in November of 2015.

“The need to delay the ban on solitary confinement in the wake of a series of horrendous attacks on corrections officers is in itself evidence of the need for such punitive measures in the Department’s cache of options. I commend Commissioner Ponte’s pragmatic approach, but I believe a wider array of options must be considered, with Correction Officers’ representatives at the table, before long-term and drastic bans are implemented. Let’s not also forget that this is precisely the age-group that is committing a significant percentage of our headline-grabbing crimes, both in prison and on the street,” said Borelli.

“Disciplinary confinement, when used discriminately, has proven to be effective in ensuring the safety of corrections staff and inmates and in maintaining order and stability in the jail. While the Department of Corrections should have policies in place to ensure that this critical discipline tool is not used arbitrarily or inhumanely, we must resist the impulse to give in to hyperbole and emotion by it banning altogether,” said Matteo.