Click to expand Image An inmate looks out from his cell in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Corcoran State Prison in Corcoran, California on October 1, 2013. © 2013 Reuters

Sent via email

MEMO OF SUPPORT FOR S.1623/A.2500

Dear Senator Stewart-Cousins and all New York Senators, as well as Speaker Heastie and all New York Assembly Members:

Human Rights Watch urges the New York Senate and the New York Assembly to pass the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, S.1623/A.2500,[1] immediately, in its current form.

Human Rights Watch is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, human rights organization made up of more than 400 staff members around the globe. We publish more than 100 reports and briefings on human rights conditions in some 90 countries each year, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. Since 1980, we have reported on prison conditions within the United States from a human rights perspective, and extensively on the use of solitary confinement. We have conducted investigations in numerous prisons, including prisons in New York; spoken with officials and inmates about solitary confinement; published many reports and commentaries on the issue; and advocated against its misuse.[2

Summary of Need to Pass the HALT Act

New York has reduced the use of solitary confinement in recent years,[3] but the state still holds a higher number of people in solitary, about 7 percent of its prison population, than the national average which is 4.4 percent.[4] On any given day, around 2,400 people,[5] disproportionately Black and Latino,[6] are housed in solitary confinement units known as Special Housing Units or SHUs in New York State prisons. This does not include those kept in “Keeplock” (in their own cells not SHUs), estimated to be approximately another 1,000 people,[7] or youthful offenders.[8] In these isolated conditions they are confined to small, sometimes windowless cells, usually the size of an elevator, for 22 to 24 hours a day without any meaningful human contact or programs, for months, years,[9] and sometimes for decades.[10] Phone calls and visits by family and loved ones are severely restricted or prohibited. A few times a week, people in solitary are let out for showers and exercise alone in a small, enclosed space, sometimes indoors. They often have extremely limited or no access to educational and recreational activities or other sources of mental stimulation, and they are usually handcuffed, shackled, and escorted by correctional officers when they leave their cells.[11]

"I’ve experienced times so difficult and felt boredom and loneliness to such a degree that it seemed to be a physical thing inside—so thick it felt like it was choking me, trying to squeeze the sanity from my mind,” wrote William Blake, an inmate in one New York’s state prisons then serving his 27th year in solitary confinement.[12]

People subjected to prolonged isolation may experience depression, despair, anxiety, rage, claustrophobia, hallucinations, problems with impulse control, and/or an impaired ability to think, concentrate, or remember. People subjected to solitary confinement develop clinical symptoms usually associated with psychosis or severe affective disorders. Solitary confinement is not only extremely painful for many, it can be literally unendurable, as is evident from the high number of suicides that take place in segregation.[13]

For the mentally ill, prolonged solitary confinement can be a living horror; the social isolation and restricted activities can aggravate their illness and immeasurably increase their pain and suffering. Our research indicates that anywhere from one-fifth to two-thirds of those held in solitary confinement have a serious mental illness which was diagnosed or manifested before isolation.[14]

Youth are also especially vulnerable to the destructive impact of solitary confinement.[15] Though New York city recently banned solitary confinement for people younger than 22,[16] those under 18 continue to be placed in solitary confinement in other parts of the state.[17]

We recognize that there may be instances in which people need to be temporarily separated from the general population in order to protect prison safety and security. But our research has shown that all too frequently, lengthy periods of isolation are imposed for minor misconduct, that the periods of such confinement extend far beyond what might be reasonable to secure changes in prisoners’ conduct. It has also shown that alternatives to solitary are equally likely to secure those changes, and that the conditions of solitary confinement are needlessly harsh, counterproductive, and inconsistent with recognition of each person’s basic humanity and dignity. In short, in many cases, prolonged solitary confinement violates the international prohibition against cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and may even amount to torture.[18] Further, states that have reduced the use of solitary significantly have seen positive outcomes, so much so that “corrections officers who had initially opposed [the changes] changed their minds after they began to see positive results.”[19]

The HALT Solitary Confinement Act would: 1) limit of the use of solitary confinement to 15 consecutive days in line with the United Nations’ “Mandela Rules,”[20] which provide authoritative guidance on good detention practices and also set a 15-day maximum for any reason; 2) create more humane and effective alternatives to solitary that involve meaningful out-of-cell human contact and programs; 3) restrict the criteria that can result in solitary or alternative separation to the most egregious conduct in need of an intensive intervention; 4) ban certain groups of people from spending even one day in solitary and ending solitary confinement in protective custody units; 5) enhance procedural protections, staff capabilities, and transparency and accountability through mandatory reporting and outside oversight.[21]

Over 120 NY legislators, including 99 New York Assembly members who voted to pass the HALT Solitary Confinement Act in 2018, and more than a majority of New York Senators support passing the bill now.[22] Human Rights Watch urges New York legislators to no longer delay passage of this bill. Legislative leaders should bring the bill to the floor for a vote now and send it to the Governor for signature.

Laura Pitter

Deputy Director, US Program

Human Rights Watch