FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Monday, July 9, 2012
CONTACT:Emma Woods, 646-200-5303/203-568-4780, emma@berlinrosen.com
Grassroots Effort Launches to Reform NYC Jails, Combat Culture of Brutality at Department of Correction
NYC Has One of the Highest Rates of Solitary Confinement in U.S.
By 2013, NYC Department of Correction (DOC) Will Have Increased Solitary Confinement Cells by 69%
Lawsuits against Correction Officers Cost City Millions, Yet Funding for Officer Training Down 40%; Top DOC Officials Have History of Brutality
New York, NY– A grassroots effort to reform New York City jails launched with a protest outside a meeting of the Board of Correction, where NYC Department of Correction (DOC) Commissioner Dora Schriro was present. The protest marked the first public action of the New York City Jails Action Coalition, a collection of activists working to improve conditions, stop the use of solitary confinement, and increase transparency and accountability at the DOC. As the Commissioner and Board Members entered the building, activists held signs calling out the DOC’s most brutal officers.
Amidst a national conversation on ending the abusive practice of solitary confinement, the NYC Department of Correction is partway through its plan to increase solitary confinement capacity by 69% by the end of Fiscal Year 2013. New York City jails have one of the highest rates of solitary confinement in the U.S.— by FY13, NYC’s rate will be up to five times the national average, with 9-10% of the jail population in solitary confinement at any one time.
DOC Commissioner Dora Schriro calls the DOC’s punitive segregation policies“progressive and highly effective.” Yet a United Nations expert on torture recently declared that solitary confinement should be banned as a jail punishmentand reserved for only the most extreme situations. Meanwhile, states across the country—including Mississippi, Maine, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, and Washington State—have made efforts to reduce the number of people in solitary confinement and rethink the criteria used for placing people in isolation. Notably, Mississippi’s efforts resulted in a decrease in violence and a cost-savings for the state.
“At a time when solitary confinement is being nationally acknowledged as abusive and inhumane, New York City’s choice to expand this brutal method of punishment is unconscionable. Although New York State has acknowledged the horrors of solitary confinement by enacting the SHU Exclusion Law, which diverts people with serious mental illness from solitary confinement into treatment units, New York City’s DOC has turned a blind eye,” noted Alexandra Smith, MSW, who received a 2008 Soros Justice Fellowship to advocate for implementation of the state law.
“NewYork City uses solitary confinement to punish the most banal offenses, from‘horseplay’ to ‘noisy behavior.’” said Richard Sawyer, JAC member and student at NYU School of Law. “The DOC uses solitary as the first resort when it should be the last.”
The coalition is also taking aim at the culture of brutality in the DOC. Each year, the City spends millions settling lawsuits filed against corrections officers for brutalizing inmates. Between 2003 and 2011, brutality lawsuits settled by DOC cost the City well over $5 million.
While allegations of abuse skyrocket, funding for correction officer training is down 40% over the last decade. Not only does the DOC tolerate abusive tactics, the coalition asserts, but it rewards them, with some of the worst offenders promoted to positions of leadership in the DOC. According to a class action lawsuit filed by The Legal Aid Society at the end of May 2012:
▪ Deputy ChiefCarmine LaBruzzoserved as a captain in the Central Punitive Segregation Unit (CPSU), the main solitary confinement facility, from 1996-2003, when he was charged with personal involvement in no fewer than six use of force violations.
▪ Assistant Chief of SecurityMark Scottwas suspended for 42 days in 1997 after an Administrative Law Judge found that he had struck a prone incarcerated individual with his baton “as though he were spear fishing.”
▪ As Assistant Deputy Wardenof the CPSU, Eric Ramosallegedly lured an inmate out of his cell in 2002 and instructed his officers to beat the inmate, according to the Ingles v. Toro class action. Since he took command, inmate complaints of excessive force in the CPSU have increased dramatically. Ramos is now the highest-ranking officer at the CPSU.
▪ While Captain in the CPSU in the mid-1990s, Ronald Jorgenson was observed brutally assaulting an individual and was reported to the Deputy Warden of Security. He was not disciplined, but was later promoted to Deputy Warden for Security at the Anna M. Kross Center (AMKC).
▪ While assigned to the CPSU in the mid-1990s, Emmanuel Bailey was notorious for his involvement in assaulting individuals incarcerated there. An officer who later became an FBI informant saw Bailey assault an individual and then cover it up. He wassubsequently promoted to Warden of the Robert N. Davoren Complex (RNDC), where he was in charge of a notoriously violent youth facility where gang members are said to enforce discipline at the behest of correction officers.
“Family members are outraged at the continued brutality, poor mental health services and lack of accountability at Rikers Island,” stated Leah Gitter, member of Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities. “Our loved ones should not be subjected to such extreme punishment and cruelty. It is time to make changes at Rikers to stop these horrendous practices.”
“I worked with a 17-year-old for months before he felt comfortable sharing hisstory with me. When he was then put in solitary confinement and humiliated on a daily basis by officers, he became so depressed; there were days he wouldn't talk,” recounted Megan Crowe-Rothstein, LMSW, Director of Social Work at Urban Justice Center’s Mental Health Project. “It was so painful for me to see him suffering – I can only imagine how he survived, or how anyone does, in those conditions.”
In the coming months, the NYC Jails Action Coalition plans to request that New York City adopt rules to severely curtail solitary confinement.
ABOUT THE NEW YORK CITY JAILS ACTION COALITION:
The New York City Jails Action Coalition is a grassroots collection of activists, including the formerly incarcerated, currently incarcerated, family members and other community members, working to promote human rights, dignity and safety for people in New York City jails. Our goals include: Increasing transparency in Department of Correction (DOC) policies in NYC jails and accountability for DOC practices and abuses; ending the use of solitary confinement (punitive segregation, SHU, the Box, the Bing) in NYC jails and opposing the DOC’s planned increase in punitive segregation cells; addressing the medical and mental health needs of people in NYC jails and ensuring access to continuing care in the community upon release; advocating for more rehabilitative services in NYC jails to promote reintegration; and fighting against the racist and discriminatory policies leading to mass incarceration.
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