Mayor-elect Adams slams de Blasio move to end solitary confinement at NYC jails

[Polybius]

Mayor de Blasio’s administration has quietly begun moving all detainees in solitary confinement — largely for violent attacks on staff — back into general population, sources say, outraging jail unions and Mayor-elect Eric Adams.

The transfers of the 108 detainees began earlier this week, jail sources said. The Department of Correction refers to solitary as punitive segregation. Inmates in “PSEG” are locked in their cells for 23 hours a day as punishment for a violent offense.

During a press conference Thursday introducing his pick for Department of Correction commissioner, Adams vowed the inmates will go right back into solitary once he’s in office.

“So the mayor announced December 31 he’s going to empty out punitive segregation,” Adams said. “January 1, they are going back into segregation. If they committed an act of violence that is unacceptable. You know, I’m not going to allow inmates and officers to be the victims of violent people.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-jails-detainee-transfer-solitary-general-population-punitive-segregation-20211216-5h57jeirbfghfeekgognjw76me-story.html

Wow, things are getting hairy!

[Polybius]

1. Kick!

For those who missed it.

[Elessar Zappa]

2. I'm against solitary confinement.

There’s ways to keep high risk inmates secure without resorting to what amounts to psychological torture.

[Polybius]

3. What do you do with the exceptionally violent inmate?

The one who beats up other prisoners for the way they look, and fights guards why try to stop it? If solitary confinement is cruel, so is what he's doing to the other inmates.

[Elessar Zappa]

5. My idea would be to keep them in their cell

but have windows with phones in the cell to communicate with others in solitary. No idea if that would work but it makes sense to me.

[Polybius]

6. Or put him in with a bigger bully

Always someone tougher.

[RobinA]

7. I Can't Speak

for any jail in NYC, but unfortunately, solitary is often used for more than just the super violent. The mentally ill can often end up there for not straightening up and flying right, and in some cases for being super annoying.

[helpisontheway]

4. I will have to ask my son his thoughts on this...He was a correctional officer

for a few years. I remember when he had to deal with very violent inmates that they eventually put in solitary confinement. Personally, I think they do need a separate place for violent inmates.