New Jersey prison officials continue to violate the state’s law restricting the use of long-term solitary confinement, according to a new report out this week by the advocacy group New Jersey Prison Justice Watch, the Appeal reports. In 2019, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act (ICRA), which caps how long a person can be held in isolation—no longer than 20 consecutive days or a total of 30 days during a 60-day period, except during a facility-wide lockdown. In the statute, “isolated confinement” is defined as confinement “in a cell or similarly confined holding or living space, alone or with other inmates, for approximately 20 hours or more per day.” When the law was passed, commentators lauded the state and said the act was one of the most progressive reforms to solitary confinement in the country.
But, according to surveys conducted by New Jersey Prison Justice Watch, change has not taken hold. Respondents reported that they have been held in isolation for weeks or months at a time. Ten people said they had been in isolation every day for the past four years. Of the 50 people who responded to a question about out-of-cell time, the average time reported was 70 minutes each day even though ICRA directs corrections officials to provide “as appropriate, access to recreation, education, clinically appropriate treatment therapies, skill-building activities, and social interaction with staff and other inmates.” “There are certain facilities that are trying to keep up as best they can with the statutory obligations,” Amos Caley, an organizer with New Jersey Prison Justice Watch, said. “But that’s one of the problems. The state has left it in the hands of each facility to come up with their own regulations on how ICRA is implemented. And what that ultimately means is that there is no across-the-board continuity.”
Comentários