A day before it was supposed to go into effect, New York City’s mayor issued an emergency order on Saturday that suspended parts of a new law that would have banned solitary confinement in local prisons. He did this because he was worried about the safety of staff and inmates.
Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency and signed an order that suspended parts of the law that said prisoners who are a safety risk could only be held in “de-escalation confinement” for four hours at a time and that limited the use of restraints on prisoners while they were being taken to court or while they were in jail.
Only in “exceptional circumstances” could the four-hour limit be broken. The mayor’s order says that prisoners would be let out of de-escalation confinement “as soon as practicable” and when they no longer pose an immediate risk of serious injury to themselves or others.
Adams also made an exception to a part of the law that said jail staff couldn’t put a prisoner in “restrictive housing” for more than 60 days in a 12-month time. His order says that every 15 days, jail staff must look over a prisoner’s placement in restrictive housing.
It is very important to keep everyone safe, including people in the care of the Department of Correction, people who work in the City of New York jails, and people who take people in jail to court and other places. Adams wrote this in his declaration of a state of emergency.
Adams had stopped the City Council from passing the bill, but in January, the council overrode Adams’s veto.
Leaders of the City Council did not respond right away to messages Saturday asking for comments.
But Shirley Limongi, a spokeswoman for the council, said something very bad about Adams.
“The Adams Administration shows every day it doesn’t care about the law or democracy by imposing unfair rules on following the law that make things worse for New Yorkers.” Because of this, our city and everyone in its broken and dangerous jail system are less safe, even the staff. The truth is that the law already had many safety exceptions that make this “emergency order” pointless. This is another case of Mayor Adams abusing executive orders without a good reason, the statement said.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams proposed the bill. He said that solitary confinement, which means being locked up alone in a small cell for long periods, is torture for the people who are put through it.
Williams and other supporters of the new rule, such as well-known members of New York’s congressional delegation, have pointed to studies that show putting an inmates in solitary confinement, even for a few days, makes it more likely that they will kill themselves, be violent, or overdose. This can also cause severe anxiety, sadness, psychosis, and other problems that can make it harder for prisoners to get back into society after they get out, they said.
Adams has said that since it was banned in 2019, there has been no solitary confinement in cells. He said that being in solitary confinement means being locked up in a cell for 22 hours or more a day without any real human contact. He said that de-escalation housing and longer-term restrictive housing are needed to keep violent prisoners from hurting staff and other inmates.
Parts of the new law were criticized by jail officials, the guards’ union, and a federal monitor whose job it was to look into how city cells worked. They did this by saying they were unsafe.
The law says that prisoners who are immediately dangerous to themselves or others can only be locked up in de-escalation units for four hours at a time. Long-term restrictive housing would only be given to people who have been involved in serious crimes. They would have to be able to leave their cells for 14 hours a day and watch the same shows as other prisoners.
Adams’ declaration of a state of emergency will last for up to 30 days or until it is revoked, whichever comes first. It can be extended for an additional 30 days. Parts of the new law will not go into force until five days from now unless the order is revoked or changed sooner.
