There's something brewing out of New York City Council voting to ban solitary confinement in jails. No more, they say, per the New York Times with the reporting on Wednesday, New York City banned most uses of solitary confinement in city jails. Setting the stage for a showdown between city council leaders and [00:00:19] Mayor Eric Adams, who opposes the ban and has vowed to veto the measure. Now the mayor in New York City, a former cop. Council vote, 39 to 7, framed by supporters as a pivotal moment in a national push to make jails more humane. [00:00:35] But the bill also highlighted a broader discussion about whether solitary confinement is torture. Or a legitimate form of punishment for detainees who grossly violate codes of conduct New York Times again with the details. Officials at the United Nations have called the practice torture, [00:00:52] and a large body of research links it to increased risk for worsened mental illness, self-harm and suicide. There are also racial disparities in its use, imagine that Black and Latino people are more likely to be put in solitary confinement. [00:01:08] But jail officials in New York and Mr Adams, a former police captain, say past abuses of solitary confinement, where detainees were held in isolation for long periods, have ended. We're supposed to take your word for it, okay. City jail officials said at a Council hearing last year that 117 [00:01:27] people were being held separately out of roughly 6000 detainees. Though advocates say that the number of people held in isolation is higher. Jail officials maintain that separating violent detainees temporarily is the only way to keep everyone safe. [00:01:43] Mr Adams has argued that the ban would make jails less safe. This assault on public safety is just wrong, Mr Adams said on Wednesday evening in a radio interview on WABC after the vote. There is a philosophical difference in this city, and the numerical minority is controlling the narrative. [00:02:01] The mayor added that most New Yorkers supported the police and correction officers, but that the far left did not support them and had advocates writing legislation. Solitary confinement, also known as punitive segregation, [00:02:18] refers to the centuries-old practice of holding a detainee alone in a cell for most of the day. The bill would ban the practice beyond a four hour de-escalation period during an emergency. And would require that all detainees spend at least 14 hours [00:02:35] outside of their cells each day. The bill supporters have vowed to override the mayor's expected veto. The measure had 38 sponsors and 51-member City Council and support from key allies, including Dr. Yusef Salam, new council member who will represent Harlem starting in January. [00:02:54] Dr Salam was one of the wrongfully convicted teenagers in the Central Park five case. And has been a forceful critic of solitary confinement after spending nearly seven years in prison. He has said his experience in solitary stuck with him and felt it was torture, he said in an interview, quote, you can hear people crying out. [00:03:13] You can hear people in pain, people going through a mental breakdown it's one of the most horrific things to experience. City officials assert that solitary confinement is not used in city jails, but a recent report by Columbia University center for [00:03:30] Justice illustrates how the city deploys the tactic using different names. For example, current rules allow for violent detainees to be placed in punitive segregation in a restrictive housing area, where people are locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day. [00:03:47] Jail officials have also held detainees alone for long periods in so called shower cages. Small cell that is used to rinse detainees off after they've been hit with pepper spray. But is also used to isolate detainees in a slightly bigger cell with a desk and during emergency lockdowns. [00:04:04] The new law bans shower cages and requires that all detainees in any housing area be given 14 hours each day outside a cell. New York officials not alone in their efforts Democrats in Congress introduced a bill this year to ban solitary confinement nationwide. [00:04:21] California lawmakers approved a bill last year to limit the practice, but it was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Officials in the Pittsburgh and Chicago areas have also put restrictions in place. [00:04:37] Correction Officers' Benevolent association, led by President Benny Boscio Jr. Have vigorously fought the bill. Drawing attention to persistent violence at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex, including 6500 assaults of guards over the last 3 years. [00:04:57] Union created a website featuring photos of injured guards and targeting the bill's lead sponsor. Jermaine Williams, the city's public advocate, urging New Yorkers urging New Yorkers to call his office to stop this bill. [00:05:14] The ad campaign was also utilized as a truck billboard outside city hall this week, which suggested the ban would lead to more violence in jails. City Council Speaker Adrian Adams pledged during a Wednesday news conference to override a veto and said, change was hard but necessary. [00:05:33] Now, the jail at Rikers Island is a major crossroads. It's at one Federal officials have sought to strip the Adams administration of control over it in response to persistent violence and chaos. Mr Adams recently named a new head of city jails to work with the federal monitor overseeing the system to avoid federal takeover. [00:05:53] Over the last decade, several people who were placed in solitary confinement at Rikers have died. Again, the reporting, the details from the New York Times. Rayyvana, I think, it's rich that the police association talks about all the injured guards. [00:06:10] I don't want people who are just showing up to work being injured, but we've heard for decades now about the conditions at Rikers Island. Can we also see the prisoners who have largely gone unheard? Can we chronicle some lawsuits? [00:06:27] Prisoners who were violently attacked and accused law enforcement guards, and by the way, when you use the word cages, even put the word shower in front of it and hosing human beings off. Which came first? [00:06:43] Okay, chicken or the egg? This place is an abomination and it seems successful for civil rights and human rights violations but I'll give you the floor. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad we're covering the story and [00:06:59] it is an important vote. Although, of course, Mayor Eric Adams, who in my opinion is a clown, but first and foremost is a cop, would not support it and has vowed to veto it. That he, as well as the associations of correction officers, [00:07:19] police officers, stand in opposition to this type of change. Because we have irrefutable evidence, that the use of this does not make jail safer. It does not make inmates less violent. [00:07:34] All it does is psychologically torture the individuals subjected to this disgusting, inhumane treatment. They're treated worse than animals in these prisons. These are human beings who are dehumanized on every [00:07:51] level inside these prisons, treated like dirt. And there's evidence to suggest that it actually increases instance of violent behavior, the longer someone is tortured inside of this type of isolation. [00:08:10] And it stands in the face of the fact that we have decades upon decades of research that shows this. There is a science behind this. It has been studied, we know that it doesn't work for its intended purposes, it doesn't make anyone safer. [00:08:29] It doesn't lower chances of individuals once they're released, reoffending and returning recidivism, returning to prison. We know that it psychologically tortures them. Even being in solitary confinement one time changes the chemistry of their brain. [00:08:49] >> Speaker 2: Yeah. >> We know all this and yet it is an uphill battle to change the conditions for these prisoners. Because so often people will hear these stories, and they, too, dehumanize the individuals who are incarcerated. [00:09:06] They don't see them as people or they think, well, they deserve this, but it doesn't make anybody safe. It doesn't rehabilitate them, which is the purpose that if we are gonna have prisons, they should be serving. It doesn't keep the public safe, it doesn't keep the prison safe it sure as hell doesn't keep the guard safe. [00:09:22] So that entire argument is based on nothing when the opposing argument is based on decades of thorough research. It is absurd that we're still even having to have this conversation. It's absurd that this practice is still used, and it's absurd that [00:09:41] they try to hide their usage of it by calling it by a different name. Just ridiculous. >> Speaker 1: You wouldn't represent me if I was in uniform and this is what you were said 6500 assaults, you're right. It's like people are so entrenched they can't think that there might be another option a better way. [00:09:57] I interviewed Eric Adams when he was Canada and I led with people are concerned because of your history with law enforcement. They're concerned that you don't get it, he pointed to an incident where he was abused by law enforcement and said, there's gonna be changes. [00:10:14] I don't hear changes, I hear Manny's entrenched in his view and blue