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| Solitary Jailing Curbed |
| By online.wsj.com - Sean Gardiner |
| Published: 01/07/2014 |
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The New York City Department of Correction has stopped its controversial use of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates who break the rules, a shift that jail officials are hailing as groundbreaking. The last of the prisoners being held in the Mental Health Assessment Unit for Infracted Inmates at Rikers Island jail were reassigned Dec. 31, and what is known as the punitive segregation program has been permanently closed, said Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro, an appointee of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The segregation program, started in 1998, has been criticized by advocates for the mentally ill. Before the changes, city jail populations on a given day included about 400 mentally ill inmates in solitary confinement, out of a total population that fluctuates between 12,000 and 13,000. In solitary confinement, prisoners could be alone in their cells for as many as 23 hours a day. For the first six months of 2013, the average punishment for a mentally ill inmate sent to punitive segregation was 53½ days, according to correction officials. Inmates who aren't mentally ill and break jail rules can still be put in solitary confinement . Read More. |
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