Queens lawmakers are hailing the passage of legislation to curtail solitary confinement and calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the measures into law.
For nearly a decade, criminal justice reform advocates have been urging passage of the HALT Act, the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, which would limit isolation to 15 days.
“Long-term solitary confinement amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and has been shown to cause physical, emotional and psychological damage,” state Senator James Sanders said. “Moreover it fails to address and treat the underlying cause of an offender’s behavior. We need to rehabilitate inmates so they can become productive members of society and are less likely to commit future crimes. There can be no benefit to locking someone away in a cell for 22 to 24 hours a day without any meaningful contact or therapy.”
The legislation limits the use of segregated confinement and implements alternative rehabilitation methods, including the creation of residential Rehabilitation Units, expands the definition of segregated confinement, and eliminates the use of segregated confinement for vulnerable incarcerated populations.
“Every day thousands of New Yorkers are locked in solitary confinement,” state Senator Jessica Ramos said. “These inhumane practices have lasting and sometimes fatal effects on a person’s physical, emotional and mental health that have led to the loss of life of far too many family members, friends and family.”
The prison reform movement gained strength following the 2015 suicide of Kalief Browder after he was sent to Rikers Island as a 16-year-old for three years, two of them spent in solitary confinement, for stealing a backpack. The charges were eventually dropped but Browder was tormented by mental health issues.
“There should be no place in civilized society for the legalized torture of solitary confinement, state Senator Michael Gianaris said. “I’m glad the Senate is joining with the Assembly to put this inhumane practice behind us once and for all.”
The reform movement was further pushed in 2019 after Layleen Polanco, a 27-year-old trans woman suffered seizures and died while in solitary confinement on Rikers Island. The Nelson Mandela Rules, adopted by the United Nations, define segregated confinement for more than 15 days as torture. HALT will bring New York in compliance with this international standard.
“Our nation’s Constitution clearly prohibits cruel and unusual punishment including torture, and the United Nations has long condemned solitary confinement to be torture,” state Senator John Liu said. “It’s therefore inconceivable that New York has engaged in this horrific practice to this day. Passage of HALT-Solitary will finally bring our state into alignment with the rest of the international community.”
State Senator Joseph Addabbo said the measure would reform the way state and county jails use solitary confinement.
“Helping reform prisoners, rather than punishing them with solitary confinement, should be the goal of our prison system,” Addabbo said. “I appreciate the work that went into crafting this bill that prevents vulnerable populations from being placed in solitary confinement, while still providing ways to deal with serious offenders.”
