On Dec. 21, the Brooklyn Eagle reported that the New York city council passed legislation to ban solitary confinement in the city’s jails. NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who sponsored this bill known as Introduction 549-A, asserts that solitary confinement is ‘torture’.
Ironically, Williams stated, “This is about safety at Rikers”.
A ban on confinement will surely make Rikers less safe. NYC Mayor Eric Adams also agrees that the bill will result in more dangerous jails.
Williams is not advocating for the public good. The incarcerated who live in a dystopian environment, in constant fear of being slashed or stabbed by other detainees, and correction officers who are assaulted daily, do not see him as an advocate but as an adversary.
There have been more than 1200 slashings in the last three years, and thousands of uniformed and non-uniformed employees have been violently assaulted.
When the city council and Williams visit Rikers Island for a “photo-op” they tour the safest areas and are accompanied by a dignitary protection security detail. They don’t get close enough to the violent detainees to get assaulted or have urine or feces thrown in their face. No politician will ever tour the jails alone. They lead from the rear.
This legislation is a harbinger of even more violence on Rikers in 2024. Williams and the city council may have blood on their hands and will eventually dodge responsibility for this legislation. They have been and continue to be complicit in the detainee violence that occurs on Rikers Island, because they don’t really know the ugly reality that prevails in the jails.
In a post on X, Williams wrote, “The U.N. has already designated solitary confinement as torture. But across the river, solitary confinement is still happening on Rikers Island.”
Williams is an elected official who took an oath to support the United States Constitution which is the supreme law of the land in America, and the Supreme Court has consistently held that solitary confinement is not cruel and unusual punishment, is not torture, and is not unconstitutional.
This legislation defies logic. As a result, it is inevitable that a detainee who should have been confined will commit a murder in a NYC jail.
