Major moment. NY paper endorses ending prolonged solitary. Calls officials out on doing same under different name-“Clearly something is amiss when DOCCS promises to reduce solitary confinement but instead turns out to be isolating more prisoners than ever.”timesunion.com/opinion/articl…
“DOCCS will no doubt insist what it calls "keeplock" is different from solitary confinement. Whereas inmates in solitary are locked up in cells for up to 23hrs/day in separate "special housing units” those in keeplock are confined for up to 23hrs/day in cells in gen. population.”
“Where DOCCS made a show of reducing the # of offenses for which prisoners could be isolated by 1/4, it actually has more in isolation, than it did 4 yrs ago. It logged 38,248 instances of isolating prisoners in 2018 compared w/ 37,600 in 2015, an increase of almost 650 cases.”
Fire: “These practices confirm what has been long apparent w/ DOCCS: It cant be relied on to make honest effort to transform NY prison system from punishment to rehabilitation. Thats going to take a state Legislature to drag it into the late 20th century if not the 21st.”
Support #HALTsolitary. This legislation would “ban all forms of isolation at 15 days — beyond which the United Nations considers it torture. Also will require isolated [people] to be allowed out of their cell for longer periods of time, and ban the practice for disabled people.”
“Studies on isolation have found that people subjected to it rapidly experience mental and physical deterioration, a heightened sense of anxiety, paranoia and a reduced ability to interact. NY DOCCS may find it convenient, but it is counterproductive.”
This is it: @nygovcuomo must stop blocking the #HALTsolitary Confinement Act. The bill had more than enough votes to pass this year but he killed it. Come January, New York has another chance to get it right.
