NY First to Reform Solitary Confinement for Minors

News, Rights

After a lawsuit arguing that disciplinary segregation is overused in New York prisons, with inmates being kept in solitary confinement for longer than necessary, New York State has agreed to impose “sentencing guidelines” to make disciplinary practices more humane, fair, and progressive for all prisoners. The state has also become the first to prohibit the use of solitary confinement in disciplining prisoners under 18. Now, 16- and 17-year-old prisoners under disciplinary confinement must be given at least five hours of outdoor exercise and programming outside of their cells five days a week. Imposing solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure for pregnant inmates will also be prohibited, and the punishment will be limited to 30 days for those who are developmentally disabled.

Prevalence of Solitary Confinement in NY Prisons

The argument for less solitary confinement in New York is not unreasonable; a 2012 report, “Boxed In,” found that from 2007 to 2011, correctional facilities issued sentences to extreme isolation cells 68,000 times for disciplinary reasons, 35,000 of which were for failure to obey an order. The average extreme isolation sentence was for about five months, with nearly 2,800 sentences reaching a year or more. These prisoners are held in their “special housing unit” (S.H.U.) cells 23 hours a day, receive meals through a slot in the cell door, and are granted one hour of outdoor recreation in a solitary “pen,” according to the civil liberties group representing the teens in the recent New York lawsuit.

Roughly half of these inmates are confined alone, while the other half are held with another prisoner — in a space about the size of a parking space.

“Double-celled prisoners experience the same isolation and idleness, withdrawal and anxiety, anger and depression as do prisoners living alone in the S.H.U.,” the report says. Such inmates also, “endure the constant, unabating presence of another man in their personal, physical, and mental space.”

 Criticism of New York’s New Disciplinary Agreement

The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association has been critical of the agreement, arguing that current confinement policies have evolved over decades of experience and are designed to protect law enforcement officers. Mainly, the criticism is that policy changes haven’t necessarily prioritized the safety and security of those living or working in New York prisons.