Adams Backs De Blasio's Delay Of Solitary Confinement Reform

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio this week extended a delay on a solitary confinement ban in Rikers Island and other city jails. Two days later, his successor Eric Adams said he supports that decision.

In an interview with PIX11, Adams said "I do agree with this decision," though he advocated for "a new form of isolation" in the future.

"You don't have to put someone in a small cell. Put them in another location where they won’t be harmful to others," Adams told the news station. "We can do the solitary aspect of this in a humane way, but you can’t continue to put dangerous inmates back in the same housing areas where they are attacking innocent officers and those prisoners who are trying to serve their time."

De Blasio's executive order negates rules proposed by the city's board of corrections that would give all inmates a minimum of 10 hours out of a cell and the opportunity to socialize with at least one other person.

In the order, the mayor cited staffing shortages among correction and supervising officers — currently, more than 1,000 correctional officers call out sick daily — as reason for declaring a state of emergency on Sept. 15 and extending it every five days since.

Adams, too, pointed at correction officers' problems as reason to isolate some inmates at Rikers Island.

"Oftentimes, we talk about Rikers Island, we forget the correction officers who are there," he told PIX11. "Feces is thrown on them. They’re sexually assaulted and attacked. And what happens is the same number of prisoners that are attacking correction officers, they’re attacking inmates."

But de Blasio's decision to continue allowing solitary confinement has faced criticism from individuals and advocacy groups, such as The Legal Aid Society.

In a statement, officials from The Legal Aid Society said the order also allows correctional officers to chain individuals to desks when they are in school or programs.

"Mayor de Blasio has done a complete about-face by jettisoning the recent advancements New York City had made to curb the reckless use of solitary confinement and dangerous practices of locking people into cells with no supervision or oversight," said Mary Lynne Werlwas of The Legal Aid Society Prisoners’ Rights Project in a statement. "His action also revives the abhorrent practice of chaining Black and Brown people to desks with iron restraints."

The mayor's move was also rebuked by Melania Brown, whose sister, Layleen Polanco, died at Rikers Island in June 2019.

"He disgusts me as a leader," Brown said, as reported by The City. "I can't wait until he's out. He invoked my sister's name but he had no intention of wholly, and truly, ending solitary confinement."