A hole lotta anger
City Hall blamed for vote delay on new solitary regs
The Board of Correction postponed its highly anticipated vote on newly proposed regulations regarding solitary confinement in city jails for another nine days — and one of its members blamed City Hall for the delay.
“The only reason why we’re not voting today is because the city wants to delay our vote in order to remove additional items from the rule,” said member Robert Cohen on Monday at a Board of Correction meeting in lower Manhattan. “[The public] should know what we thought was important and what has been removed [from the proposed rule] under political pressure.”
The board and City Hall were in tense negotiations for the last several months about the fine points of punitive segregation — commonly referred to as solitary confinement — and other forms of restrictive housing, an insider told The Daily News.
The board’s current draft of the proposed rules says any inmate who has committed a violent infraction other than an assault on a Department of Correction staff member would be put in punitive segregation for a maximum of 15 days. Detainees accused of assaulting a staff member would still be placed in punitive segregation for 60 days, but that term could be reduced for good behavior.
Those who are diagnosed with an intellectual disability as well as women who are about seven months or more pregnant, and others caring for a child in the DOC nursery, will all be exempt from solitary confinement. Incarcerated persons ages 16 to 21 and people with serious mental or medical issues are already exempt.
But the rule — which is still being drafted — is a far cry from the board’s original recommendations, a second source with knowledge of the issue said.
“City Hall has been chopping pieces off [of the proposal] the last few days … which zapped a lot of energy out of the whole thing,” the source said. “Why is the Mayor’s Office so involved? This is complete interference … their fingerprints are all over it.”
City Hall spokeswoman Avery Cohen called the accusations baseless, citing the city’s vital role in the rule making process.
“It’s completely inaccurate to say that the City is campaigning against the solitary rule,” she said. “We are actively working on reforms to satisfy both the safety of officers and people in our care.”
The city’s Law Department — which must vet the proposed rule to ensure that there are no legal issues — also said it did not receive ample time to complete a review of the regulations, said its spokeswoman Kimberly Joyce.