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Solitary confinement deal reached for NY prisons

NYCLU

State officials have inked a five-year deal with the New York Civil Liberties Union that will reshape the way solitary confinement works in the state's correctional facilities.

"We think that this is a really historic moment and kind of a watershed event in the New York state prison system when in it comes to solitary confinement," said Taylor Pendergrass, a senior staff attorney with the NYCLU. This settlement, overseen by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, followed two years of negotiation which began when the Civil Liberties Union sued New York's Corrections Department for allegedly over-using solitary confinement.

During a press conference yesterday, NYCLU president Donna Lieberman called New York's system of isolation cells "brutal and inhumane." She added that the practice "is literally torture."

Under the provisions of this deal, New York state will immediately move roughly 1,100 inmates into alternative programs. They will also develop training programs for corrections officers designed to encourage the use of forms of discipline and security other than isolation. Prisoners still held in solitary for more than 180 days will receive additional counseling, social time, and access to telephones.

One inmate's experience in a North Country prison

Leroy Peoples is serving time in a New York state prison after being convicted of rape in 2005. While behind bars, Peoples broke prison rules, once by having dietary supplements that prison officials deemed contraband, another time by filing false legal documents. As punishment, corrections officers locked Peoples in an isolation cell at Upstate Correctional for more than two years. His wife Sandy Peoples spoke at a press conference yesterday in New York City.

"He was like a caged animal," she said. "He wrote me letters that didn’t sound like him. And I would think, what happened to you, what’s going on with you. Keeping him alive was like overwhelming."

Leroy Peoples sued the prison system and the New York Civil Liberties Union bundled his case into a federal class-action lawsuit. They described New York's network of solitary confinement cellblocks as a kind of torture.

 Making prisons safer?

This kind of reform is underway around the United States, and some states have found it actually helps reduce the number of violent incidents in prisons. New York has one of the biggest prison systems in the country -- more than 52,000 inmates -- so the effort here will be watched closely.

Alphonso David, a lawyer for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office, said this deal will make New York's correctional facilities more humane without hurting security. "This agreement will not only decrease the number of people that enter into solitary confinement, but it will create a safer environment for both inmates and staff," David said.

But prison guards weren't included in these talks, and they've pushed back hard against solitary confinement reform. Their union issued a statement that said it is simply wrong to curtail the use of isolation. Many corrections officers see it as an important method of control. Speaking earlier this year with NPR, Union President Mike Powers rejected the idea that isolation cells are inhumane or have been over used.

"To say that it was used to commonplace is a fallacy. What you have is, you have a more brazen - you have a more violent felon coming into the system," Powers argued.

Will these reforms work?

It's unclear how these reforms will work if frontline prison staff aren't on board. This agreement requires every corrections officer in New York state to undergo retraining. Their decisions about when to use solitary confinement will also be vetted by supervisors and audited by outside groups.

Taylor Pendergass with the New York Civil Liberties Union said this is a first step toward reshaping a prison culture that has seen solitary confinement as a normal practice for a long time.

"It’s been decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to get to a place where solitary confinement has been so hardwired into the system and I think long term change and sustainable reform is going to take a number of years," he acknowledged.