This article originally appeared on NJ Spotlight.

—

New Jersey lawmakers are trying again to limit the amount of time prisoners can be kept in isolated confinement, as well as the circumstances under which they can be sent to solitary. An effort to do so three years ago got as far as former Gov. Chris Christie’s desk before being vetoed.

Advocates are hoping the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, A-314, will pass both houses again and this time face a better fate with Gov. Phil Murphy, a progressive Democrat. The Assembly Judiciary committee on Monday moved the bill by a 4-2 vote, with both Republican members opposed.

The measure would prohibit the use of solitary confinement in correctional facilities unless it is deemed necessary to reduce the risk of serious harm to the inmate or others. A facility would have to justify the use of isolated confinement and then could only keep a person in solitary for 15 consecutive days or 20 days during a two-month period, said Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin (D-Middlesex), prime sponsor of the bill.

“This does not end solitary confinement in New Jersey, but instead, it ensures that prisoners are not put in this form of confinement for months or years at a time,” she said. “Study after study shows that the use of long-term isolated confinement will have long-term detrimental effects on the person.”

Bringing NJ in line with UN

Pinkin and some of the advocates who testified Monday said the bill is an effort to bring New Jersey into conformance with a United Nations recommendation that defines more than 15 days in solitary confinement as torture. One UN expert said that just a few days of social isolation can cause some lasting mental damage.

“The extreme loneliness that I experienced in that time, it’s hard to live with and describe to this day,” said Marshall Justice Rountree, a social justice and criminal advocate, who said he spent at least five of the 23 years he served in state prison in solitary confinement, also called “administrative segregation” in New Jersey. “I do remember that I was ready to commit suicide.”

Pinkin noted there has been a nationwide movement to end the use of solitary confinement, which is defined by the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) as being locked up alone for at least 22 hours a day for at least 15 days. Eight states, including nearby New York and Connecticut, have reformed their rules, she said.

NJ exceeds national average for solitary

According to a report last year by the ASCA and the Arthur Liman Center at Yale University, New Jersey correctional facilities kept more than 1,000 prisoners — 5.2 percent of the incarcerated population — in solitary in 2017. That’s a higher proportion than the national average of 4.5 percent. The proportion of men kept in isolation was even higher in New Jersey — 6.2 percent, compared with a national rate of 4.2 percent.

Mark Hopkins was arrested at age 15 and waived up to serve time in an adult facility. He said he suffered “severe mental deterioration” when he was placed in solitary confinement at age 16. He said the way cells were arranged, other inmates watched him being strip-searched. The area was noisy, with other prisoners screaming and an industrial fan that the guards had tweaked to be very loud so they wouldn’t have to listen to the prisoners.

“The system has no guidelines,” he said.

Under the bill, inmates would have to receive a comprehensive medical and mental health examination, conducted by a medical professional, before being placed in isolated confinement and receive a daily evaluation while confined. An inmate could contest the confinement with 72 hours of placement and be removed from isolation if the facility administrator determines the confinement is no longer necessary. Those a clinician deems to be members of a vulnerable population, including those who have certain illnesses or disabilities or who are 21 or younger, 65 or older, or pregnant, would have to be removed from confinement.