Restricts the use of segregated confinement and creates alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options

This bill would limit the time an inmate can spend in segregated confinement, end the segregated confinement of vulnerable people, restrict the criteria that can result in such confinement, improve conditions of confinement, and create more humane and effective alternatives to such confinement.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 states the purpose of the bill.

Section 2 clarifies that the bill's provisions apply to all types and locations of segregated confinement.

Section 3 defines "special populations"; "emergency", "short-term" and "extended segregated confinement"; and "residential rehabilitation units".

Section 4g prohibits segregation of vulnerable groups ("special populations"), including young and elderly people, people with physical or mental disabilities, pregnant women, new mothers, and members of the LGBTI community.

Section 4h places a limit of 15 consecutive days and a limit of 20 total days in a 60 day period on the amount of time any person can spend in segregated confinement, and requires that beyond those limits all persons must be released or sent to a separate secure residential rehabilitation unit (RRU).

Section 4ii enhances conditions in segregated confinement, including additional out-of-cell time, congregate recreation, access to essential services, and bans on orders depriving basic necessities, including restricted diets. It also provides for new RRUs as a more humane and effective alternative that provide meaningful - human contact and therapeutic, trauma-informed, and rehabilitative programs aimed at addressing underlying causes of behavior.

Section 4j restricts the criteria for segregated confinement beyond three days or RRUs to more serious acts of physical injury, forced sexual acts, extortion, coercion, inciting serious disturbance, procuring deadly weapons or dangerous contraband, or escape. It allows for segregated confinement of three days for department rule violations, and 24-hour emergency confinement if necessary. It prohibits segregated confinement for purposes of protective custody and requires that any protective custody unit at a minimum meet the standards for RRUs.

Section 4k enhances procedural protections for placement in segregated confinement including allowing for representation, and assessments for determining whether someone is a member of a "special population" prior to segregation.

Section 4l creates mechanisms for periodic review and release from an RRU based on a resident's progress and acts, expiration of a disciplinary sentence, expiration of a one-year limit, or independent outside review after one year in an RRU.

Section 4m requires training for RRU staff and hearing officers and

Section 4n requires public reporting on the use of segregation and RRUs.

Sections 5 and 6 require oversight over implementation of the bill.

Justification

This bill aims to make New York's prison and jail practices more humane and effective. The bill limits the length of time anyone can spend in segregated confinement, restricts the criteria that can result in such confinement, provides additional procedural protections prior to such confinement, and exempts certain vulnerable groups. The bill also provides an alternative mechanism for working with people who engage in serious violence or other problematic behavior that involves - not deprivation - but therapeutic and rehabilitative support and programs.

Segregated confinement is inhumane and ineffective. Studies have long and consistently found that subjecting people to segregated confinement for twenty-two to twenty-four hours a day without meaningful human contact, programming, or therapy often causes deep and permanent psychological, physical, developmental, and social harm. This harm not only violates common values of decency, but also is counterproductive because people often have more difficulty complying with prison rules after being placed in segregated confinement. Segregated confinement can be particularly devastating for certain vulnerable people, such as young or elderly people, pregnant women, and people with disabilities or addiction or trauma histories; and segregated members of the LGBTI community are more vulnerable to abuse. Other states have dramatically reduced the number of people in segregated confinement, and seen positive benefits in terms of safety and decreased violence.

Despite the tremendous harm caused by massive isolation of thousands of incarcerated persons, New York prisons and jails currently impose segregated confinement too broadly, routinely, and for too long a period of time. On any given day, there are nearly 4,000 people, disproportionately people of color, in state prisons in Special Housing Units (SHU) and thousands more in other forms of isolation. There are also around a thousand more people in segregated confinement in jails in New York City alone. Despite claims that segregated confinement is used in response to the most violent behavior, five out of six disciplinary infractions that result in SHU time in New York prisons are for non-violent conduct. Moreover, people routinely

suffer in segregated confinement for months, years, and even decades in New York.

A growing chorus of individuals, organizations, and policy-makers has called for a dramatic transformation and curtailment of the use of segregated confinement. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture concluded that solitary confinement can amount to torture and recommended abolishing its use beyond 15 days and prohibiting any use of solitary for vulnerable groups or purposes of punishment. The New York Civil Liberties Union and others have issued reports documenting the arbitrary and unjustified use of segregated confinement in New York and the negative impacts its use has on incarcerated persons, staff, and safety in our prisons and communities. The New York State Bar Association has called upon the state and city corrections departments to profoundly restrict the use of segregated confinement, end segregated confinement beyond 15 days, adopt stringent criteria for any separation, and ensure any separation is for the briefest period and in the least restrictive conditions practicable. This bill takes up the growing call to limit segregated confinement and provide more humane and effective alternatives.

Legislative history

New Bill.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Local fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act will take effect immediately.