Obama is wrong on solitary confinement

Separating dangerous inmates from the general population and civilians inside correctional facilities is an essential deterrent used to ensure everyone’s safety. It is a protective measure that exists for a reason.

While we welcome President Obama’s involvement in this discussion, his actions regarding federal prisoners — in particular a ban on solitary confinement for juveniles — do not take into consideration the reality that correction officers face every day.

We patrol the nation’s most dangerous precincts, doing a job no one else wants to do in a place most Americans would rather not think about, all with the objective to keep them safe.

Our officers are routinely spit on, and have urine and feces thrown at them. They are punched, slapped and kicked by inmates. Making matters worse, we’ve recently seen an uptick in slashings and stabbings in facilities where our members work and at some prisons around the country. And after the banning of punitive segregation for 16- and 17-year-olds in New York City, we have seen these inmates become even more dangerous.

Just last month, correction officers on Rikers Island were attacked by gang-affiliated inmates from this very age group, their faces battered by those who did not fear punishment for their actions. Correction officer Ray Calderon was slashed within an inch of his life in November, by inmates who were all under 21 and who would fall under the solitary confinement ban.

After this series of brutal attacks on correction officers, the Department of Correction commissioner in New York delayed a ban on punitive segregation for 18- to 21-year-olds and cited safety as the main reason.

No inmate or prisoner deserves to spend years or months on end in solitary confinement. We agree with the president that it should be used judiciously and sparingly, and that there should be limitations. But it must remain for enforcement.

Obama noted the tragic and unfortunate case of Kalief Browder, who spent three years in prison, two of them in solitary confinement, for allegedly stealing a backpack, and then committed suicide after his release. That’s an example that I, too, have used for years. Browder never should have been forced to sit on Rikers Island for three years awaiting trial. Yet that is a failure of the larger criminal justice system — not of his treatment at Rikers. His case demonstrates problems that run far deeper than where or how someone is incarcerated.

We are not opposed to reform. In fact, we have been calling for real changes to the criminal justice system for a long time. We thank the president for making this a national conversation. But it should be exactly that — a dialogue that brings everyone to the table, including correction officers.

Norman Seabrook is president of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA).