Mayor Adams Issues Order To Block Law Limiting Solitary Confinement

NEW YORK CITY — New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued an emergency executive order to suspend parts of a new bill that would limit solitary confinement in city jails this past weekend.

The order issued on Saturday suspends the limits on how long detainees can spend in solitary confinement and limits how detained individuals are restrained in transport.

At a public appearance on Saturday, Adams said the law would be dangerous to inmates and prison staff.

"There were some parts of it that were extremely dangerous to the inmates. The monitor, as well as the correction commissioner, was extremely concerned. One of them dealt with the inability to restrain inmates while they were being transported to court. That is extremely dangerous, and all law enforcement personnel are aware of that," Adams added.

Adams had previously vetoed the City Council's approval of the bill, but the council overrode the veto in January.

The new law would include:

• A four-hour limit of solitary confinement, unless it falls under an "exceptional circumstances."

• No more than 30 days of restrictive housing.
• Limit on how Department of Corrections use emergency lock-ins
• Require the DOC to report on its use of de-escalation confinement, restrictive housing, and emergency lock-ins.
• Detainees would have due process protections before being placed in restrictive housing

In his executive order decision, Adams said he wants a federal judge to have time "to analyze the law and decide the proper way to implement it without bringing harm to the inmates and bringing harm to the correction officers and civilians who are assigned."

"It's just a temporary pause to give them the time to do that proper analysis," he said.

The order will remain in effect for 30 days.

The Legal Aid Society called the mayor's decision "an overreach."

"It is irrational to claim that the prospect of implementing a law enacted months ago has caused a state of emergency. These executive orders set a dangerous precedent where the Mayor can avoid implementing laws that he disagrees with simply by claiming they would adversely affect public safety," they wrote in a statement.

“Instead of issuing emergency orders a day before the ban was scheduled to go into effect, Mayor Adams should be doing everything possible to end the inhumane isolation of incarcerated New Yorkers, stop the rampant brutality in the jails, and reduce the jail population."

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said in a statement on X that he and council leaders would "explore all means of ensuring that this administration cannot continue to abandon its duty to execute the law."