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New Jersey State Prison in Trenton is shown in this file photo.

(Martin Griff / Times of Trenton)

A state lawmaker will introduce legislation Monday to significantly reduce the use of solitary confinement in New Jersey's prisons amid nationwide push to curtail the practice.



The bill, sponsored by Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and championed by a coalition of prison reform and civil liberties groups, would regulate solitary confinement — also known as "isolated confinement" — at New Jersey corrections facilities.

“I don’t know how bad the use or abuse of isolated confinement is in our corrections department, but we do know that across the country there’s been a widespread expansion of it,” Lesniak told NJ Advance Media. “We just want to make sure in New Jersey that we curtail it and only use it when necessary.”

Advocates for the measure say the practice of solitary confinement and isolation is inhumane. They cite research showing that isolating prisoners for more than two weeks can have serious negative effects in mental health, particularly among adolescent inmates.

“As an advocate, you really can’t give me a good reason for extended isolation,” said Bonnie Kerness, who heads the Prison Watch Project for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice group.

The bill would require inmates receive an initial hearing within 72 to hours of being placed in isolation, and implement a 15-day cap on isolation except in special circumstances. It would virtually eliminate the use of isolation for inmates under the age of 21, over the age of 55 and those who have serious medical conditions or mental illness.

It would also require that an inmate receive a medical and mental health evaluation before being isolated, and be assessed by a clinician on a daily basis.

Alexander Shalom, an attorney with the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that isolation in prisons can take many shapes, and sometimes can mean two inmates locked in a single cell, as is common practice in New Jersey’s prisons.

The form most commonly shown in popular culture representations of prison life is the punitive: unruly prisoners placed in “administrative segregation” — or “Ad Seg” — for acting out. But prisoners are also isolated for their own protection, either voluntarily or involuntarily, because of threats made against them or others. A growing population of inmates are also separated from the general population due to mental health issues.

All forms of isolation are mentally taxing for the prisoner, advocates and former inmates say.

Prison reform advocate Ojore Lutalo, shown in this 1998 photo during his time as an inmate in the management control unit of the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

“A lot of prisoners can’t cope because they aren’t structured psychologically that way,” said Ojore Lutalo, a former member of the Black Liberation Army who spent 28 years in prison for armed robbery. “They don’t know how to occupy their time. They end up neglecting personal hygiene, withdrawing into themselves, walking around looking like zombies.”

Lutalo, who says he was isolated in an “administrative control unit” for more than two decades because of his political activity at New Jersey State Prison, now volunteers with the Prison Watch Project. He said he occupied his time in isolation by reading, writing and producing collages of news clippings, which have been shown at exhibits.

“Surviving in there is a test of the mind,” he said. “If you can do that, you got it, but many people can’t handle it.”

Tyrone Barnes, who finished his own armed robbery sentence in 2012, said the state’s prisons are too quick to send an inmate into Ad Seg — isolating them from the general prison population for minor infractions.

“You got a guy who steals a Snickers bar in the store room, he’s in segregation for 90 days,” said Barnes, who now works as a paralegal at a Newark law firm and volunteers legal aid to prisoners.

He said inmates like him can spend the majority of their sentence in Ad Seg and struggle to adjust once they’re released.

“They throw them out of here with a mentality that they were mistreated, because of the conditions they was exposed to in solitary confinement,” Barnes said. “The system creates the monsters we have out here on the streets in Newark, New Jersey. There’s no doubt that’s a contributing factor. It’s a public health issue.”

Currently, the use of isolated confinement in New Jersey is regulated by a section of the state's administrative code, known as Title 10A. That document includes provisions for the heating, lighting, and sanitation of cells, periodic review for inmates placed in administrative segregation, access to visitors, recreation and education programs, among other details.

The Department of Corrections also has a Special Administrative Segregation Review Committee, which conducts bimonthly reviews of cases where inmates have been placed into administrative segregation.

Matthew Schuman, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said the agency couldn’t comment on pending legislation, but would review it after it was submitted.

Lesniak said the measure will be introduced on Monday and will likely come up before committee early next year.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.