Jurrell Laronal spent 10 years in Massachusetts prisons and has been in solitary confinement more times than he can remember, beginning at age 19.

He’s been in cells that are too hot or too cold or have black mold, he said. He’s been given a choice between a shower and extra food, been denied a blanket, and had correction officers destroy his property. He got his thumb broken and still has a mark on his chest from a restraint chair, three years after getting out. Laronal said he saw an officer opening inmates’ trays and “doing nasty stuff” to their food.

Laronal said there is a culture of silence in “the hole,” since any complaint will cause the inmate more trouble.

“You held me accountable for 10 years,” Laronal told officials at the Department of Correction on Tuesday. “But you should also be held accountable for what you do as well.”

The criminal justice reform law that the Legislature passed last year contains reforms to the state’s solitary confinement system meant to provide inmates with better living conditions, limit the length of time someone can be held without review, and keep mentally ill inmates out of solitary confinement. The Department of Correction is writing new rules to abide by the law.

But prisoners’ advocates say the department’s draft rules fall short of the reform envisioned by the Legislature and essentially let the department continue its current practices in slightly different form.

“Unfortunately, these regulations make clear that instead of seizing the opportunity, the DOC intends to bring itself into technical compliance with the letter of the law while subverting the intention of the law and continuing to rely on solitary confinement as a lynchpin of its management practices,” said Jesse White, staff attorney with Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts.

At a public hearing Tuesday, former prisoners, family members and advocates told horrific stories of incarceration in solitary confinement, which several people referred to as “torture,” and urged department officials to change their practices.

Nicholas Gomes, 49, of Boston, spent 30 years incarcerated. His first arrest was at age 12 for stealing a car. Gomes said inmates are sent to solitary confinement for little reason.

“if you have a disagreement with a (correction officer) and they don’t like you, you’re going to the hole,” Gomes said. “They tell you to do something and you don’t do it fast enough, you’re going to the hole. They come to do the count … you don’t stand up quick enough, later that night they’re coming to your cell, and you’re going to the hole.”

Gomes said correction officials need to remember that inmates are human. “Until this system that doesn’t look at other people like they’re humans doesn’t change that thinking of ‘okay we can just put this person in that room and leave him there,’… You think they’re going to come out of that room and come to your community and help your grandmother across the street?” Gomes said. “No, that’s not going to happen. You’re creating monsters.”

The criminal justice reform law defines restrictive housing as a unit where an inmate is confined to a cell 22 hours a day. The new law requires that these inmates get amenities similar to those in the general population, such as access to television, radio, reading and writing material, certain visitation rights, and showers three times a week. It ensures that prisoners held in solitary confinement for more than 60 days can access educational, vocational and rehabilitative programming.

It requires regular reviews of a prisoner’s housing status — anywhere from every 72 hours to every 90 days, depending on the circumstance.

Prisoners with serious mental illness could no longer be held in solitary confinement for more than 72 hours, unless certain conditions are met. Pregnant women would be barred from solitary confinement.

The proposed Department of Correction rules place additional restrictions on when and for how long solitary confinement, now referred to as “restrictive housing,” can be used. The department would enhance its medical and mental health screenings and create a board to review restrictive housing placements. The rules create standards for access to canteen, meals, bedding, radios, reading material and programming.

But they also create new categories of housing — a “secure adjustment unit,” where inmates can be held in their cells for up to 21 hours a day, and a “secure treatment unit” for inmates with serious mental illness.

According to the proposed rules, the secure adjustment unit would provide access to mental health treatment, programs and recreation in a “highly structured unit” when an inmate is diverted from or released from restrictive housing.

Prisoners’ Legal Services, in written testimony cosigned by the ACLU of Massachusetts and other criminal justice reform advocates, said the department is undermining the intent of the law by creating new units that would give prisoners an extra hour out of their cell, but be exempt from the law’s protections. “It is counterproductive and harmful for people to be locked in a cage for 22 or even 21 hours a day,” the groups wrote.

Former inmates and family members say the rules must also do more to prevent abuse. For example, they said prisoners in solitary confinement are often discouraged from taking their hour of recreation time.

Michael Carey, a retired high school teacher, visits a man who has been in a solitary disciplinary unit for four years. Carey said when the man leaves his cell, his property can get destroyed. So he leaves only to shower twice a week and for twice monthly visits.

“The culture has not improved one iota in the four years I’ve been visiting him,” Carey said.

Wendy Golenbock, a former defense attorney convicted of bankruptcy fraud, spent 10 days in segregation during her incarceration 16 years ago, because no other bed was available. She said her hour outside her cell meant time to stand by herself in a cold courtyard.

Golenbock recalled being housed with people with serious mental illness, who screamed through the night. She said coming out of segregation, “You have nightmares for the rest of your life.”

Caroline Bays, of Watertown, who visits a man in solitary confinement, said the man told her that when he entered the unit, a guard threatened to beat him if the man left his cell.

“I’m witnessing some of the most brutal, inhuman treatment I’ve ever seen in my life,” Bays said. She recounted stories of men being beaten by guards or tripped on stairs and then denied medical treatment.

“It’s not just solitary because you’re kept in a cell,” Bays said. “It’s the atmosphere in the unit, the culture and brutal treatment of human beings in there.”

Advocates urged the Department of Correction to reserve solitary confinement for the worst violent offenses. Otherwise, they say solitary confinement harms prisoners and public safety.

Letisha Monteiro is a single mother of four, with one son in prison and another who was released. Both spent time in solitary confinement.

The one who is released, she said, came out of jail “the most angry kid in the world.”

“He’s so mean. He’s not the son I raised,” Monteiro said.

Her son in jail has mental health problems, she said.

Monteiro said the jail system “mentally abuses” prisoners and treats them like animals. Her son is denied books his wife buys him on Amazon. One son found maggots in his food.

Monteiro said a dog caged in a kennel continuously would run like crazy when released. Similarly, she said, with men, “You let them out after they were treated like animals, the animals become monsters.”

A Department of Correction spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Asked whether lawmakers are concerned about the department’s implementation of the law, Sen. Will Brownsberger, D-Belmont, who led the Senate’s criminal justice reform efforts, said the law established an independent oversight commission to gather information about the use of restrictive housing.

“I’m initially trusting that those oversight mechanisms will do what we intended,” Brownsberger said.