Testimony of Policy Director Alyson Silkowski to the New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice
Thank you to Chair Rivera and the members of the Committee on Criminal Justice for convening this hearing and providing the opportunity to testify on behalf of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. My name is Alyson Silkowski, Policy Director and Senior Advisor on Family Economic Security in the Comptroller’s office.
As we convene today, with the shared aim of eliminating all forms of solitary confinement in New York City’s jail system, it is worth taking stock of how we got here. Over many years, the efforts of criminal justice reform advocates and stakeholders as well as survivors of solitary confinement and loved ones of those in custody compelled us to end this practice and to imagine alternative, humane forms of housing. Last June, the Board of Correction approved rules establishing the Risk Management Accountability System (RMAS), which set minimum hours of out-of-cell time for those separated from the general population, among other requirements, and adopted a stepwise approach to facilitate progression to less restrictive settings. The implementation date, November 1, 2021, has long come and gone. In the intervening months, the State HALT Solitary Confinement Act, which limits segregated confinement to 15 days, also went into effect.
And yet, despite past good-faith efforts both to legislate and to regulate an end to solitary confinement, RMAS has not been put into practice, and the Comptroller’s office continues to hear reports of people in custody being held indefinitely in environments that the letter of the law and any casual observer would consider segregated confinement. On an unannounced visit to Rikers Island on August 29, during which the Comptroller toured four facilities, Comptroller Lander observed seven individuals in “protective custody” who, as he reported last month to the Board of Correction, were being held in dark, double-vestibule cells not much larger than their beds, for as much as 22 or 23 hours a day. They had no access to meaningful engagement with other people or to congregate programming, which evidence shows improves health and safety, and there was no deadline or end in sight. Confined well beyond 15 consecutive days, for weeks on end.
We cannot allow this to continue. We know that prolonged isolation does significant physiological and psychological harm – and we also know that alternatives are possible. Alternative housing models such as RSVP in San Francisco, and CAPS here in New York City, show the benefits of a programming-rich, non-punitive approach.
The Comptroller commends the Council for advancing legislation that accepts nothing short of the elimination of all forms of solitary confinement. In particular, we are glad to see that several provisions of Int. 549 exceed the minimum requirements established in Chapter 6 of the Board of Correction’s rules. Importantly, Int. 549 requires that all people in custody have 14 hours of out of cell time, consistent with the existing minimum standard, and defines out-of-cell time as time spent in a space conducive to meaningful social interactions. This would explicitly prohibit the use of cells like those the Comptroller observed last month. Additionally, the Comptroller supports restricting de-escalation and emergency lock-ins to a maximum of four hours, with regular rounding and mental health checks required. The bill also codifies vital protections with respect to due process, including the requirement that individuals to be placed in restrictive housing are afforded a hearing, at which they are entitled to have legal representation, and that refusals to attend hearings be videotaped. The Comptroller, who remains deeply committed to increasing public transparency of DOC operations, also welcomes the new reporting requirements in the bill.
It is critical that any legislation purporting to end solitary confinement in New York City include these minimum requirements. Our office remains committed to thoughtful, ongoing oversight to ensure the final legislation, once enacted, is actualized.
Before closing, I would also like to take this opportunity to echo the comments the Comptroller made to the Board of Correction during their most recent meeting on September 13 regarding the urgent need to reduce the jail population. Because our collective work to end solitary confinement should and must happen alongside and within the context of a broader plan to decarcerate.
This year to date, the number of slashings and stabbings is up 34%, the number of people dying continues to climb, and on an average day in August, the most recent data available, there were more than 1,000 people in custody in City jails with serious mental illness. And yet against this backdrop, characterized by violence and significant unmet needs, the number of people in DOC custody is rising. As of yesterday, there were 5,839 people in DOC custody, up 8% from January, and over 2,000 people more than two years ago, when criminal legal system actors worked together to safely reduce the population in recognition of the unique health and safety risks posed by COVID-19. The Comptroller’s recently released DOC Dashboard, which will be tracking these and other metrics, shows length of stay in custody is similarly increasing; during the month of August, people discharged from City jails had spent an average of 114 days in custody, compared to 105 days in July.
Unlike those first weeks after the onset of the pandemic, the City does not appear to be utilizing all available tools to decarcerate. In fact, arrests through the first half of this year are up 26% compared to 2021. The City-sentenced population, which had been reduced to around 100 during the pandemic and had largely stayed there, has now climbed to over 400 – an increase of more than 200% since the start of this year. In the immediate term, and in light of the conditions in the jails, we urge the City, alongside the courts and district attorneys’ offices, to work together to safely divert as many people as possible from Rikers. The Comptroller stands ready to partner with the City, and with the Council, to that end.
Thank you again for the opportunity to submit testimony.
###