This is a MAJOR change in New York City’s criminal system!
NY Mayor Bill de Blasio announced effective today, he’s ordered NYC jails to end their use of solitary confinement when an inmate has underlying health conditions.
De Blasio also announced he’s creating a panel to determine how to end the punitive segregation altogether. The panel will be led by the Board of Correction Vice-Chair Stanley Richards. It will also include the Department of Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann and Just Leadership USA President and CEO DeAnna Hoskins. City Hall also invited Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio to join, Daily News reports.
De Blasio said,
“We need to make changes immediately in how people who are incarcerated in our jail system are handled, and we need to make sure they are safe.”
The move comes days after the city said they’re disciplining 17 staff in connection to the death of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who died at Rikers Island in June last year after having an epileptic seizure while in solitary confinement.
Take a look at de Blasio’s daily news brief: