New York City Mayor Blocks Solitary Confinement Ban After Council Overrides His Veto
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) declared a state of emergency on July 28, 2024, issuing an executive order blocking a new law banning solitary confinement in city jails just one day before it was slated to take effect. The move is the latest in a see-saw battle between Adams and City Council, which voted 39-7 in December 2023 to pass Bill 549-A. Adams vetoed the bill on January 19, 2024, but Council voted 42-9 to override that veto on January 30, 2024, creating Local Law 42—which Adams’ order has now blocked.
Adams, a former captain with the city police department (NYPD), argued that the legislation was unnecessary because city jails—including the notorious Rikers Island complex—had discontinued use of solitary and replaced it with “punitive segregation.” However, a report by Columbia University’s Center for Justice found that detainees were still being held in the equivalent of solitary for lengthy periods of time.
The mayor also claimed the ban would “make staff in our jails and those in our custody less safe by impairing our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable.” Unsurprisingly, the bill was also opposed by the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA), the union representing jail guards. But Adams also got support from a surprising source: Steve J. Martin, the Monitor appointed by the federal court for the Southern District of New York in a long-running case over jail conditions, told U.S. District Judge Laura T. Swain on July 17, 2024, that there is “no question that situations arise in correctional settings where an immediate risk of harm must be addressed regardless of arbitrarily imposed limitations.” See: Nunez v. City of N.Y., USDC (S.D.N.Y.), Case No. 1:11-cv-05845.
In passing the law and overriding Adams’ first veto of it, Council member Adrienne Adams (D), who is no relation to the mayor, said that solitary confinement “is almost exclusively inflicted on Black and Latino people who are simply awaiting their day in court and don’t have the money to [post bail and] avoid pretrial detention.” Also voting to override Adams’ veto was first-term Council member Yusef Salaam (D), one of the “Central Park Five” whose wrongful conviction for a high-profile 1989 rape cost the city a $41 million settlement, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Mar. 2016, p.58.]
The deaths of several detainees held in isolation in city jails sparked the measure, which added § 9-167 to the city’s administrative code. Instead of solitary, detainees could be placed in “de-escalation confinement” for up to four hours, or up to 12 hours total in a seven-day period, so long as they were checked every 15 minutes and allowed to make phone calls. Placement in a restrictive housing unit (RHU) was allowed for security reasons, but only after a hearing with due process protections, including the ability to present evidence and be represented by an advocate, as well as conduct witness cross-examinations. No RHU placement could last over 30 days, nor more than 60 days within a 12-month period, and never in solitary confinement cells. Detainees committing violent “grade 1” offenses could be temporarily placed in RHU before a hearing for up to five days. Importantly, the law also required that all detainees “have access to at least 14 out-of-cell hours” each day, except while in de-escalation confinement or during emergency lockdowns. It further limited the use of restraints unless “necessary to prevent an imminent risk of self-injury or injury to other persons.” Detailed reports on use of RHU were also to be provided to City Council every three months.
Adams’ order was to last 30 days, though he was expected to extend it for additional 30-day periods. Council Member Tiffany Cabán (D-Astoria) said that when she was a public defender, clients who ended up in “the box” were “guaranteed trauma,” despite “evidence and research show[ing] that it does not work and causes immense harm.” As for Adams’ order, she said, “We are all less safe because of his actions.”
Additional sources: New York Times, Queens Chronicle, Reuters News