Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island..times are changing!
Feb 22, 2015 9:42:34 GMT -6
bonhommearmonica, emotionallyincorrect, and 1 more like this
Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2015 9:42:34 GMT -6
For those who aren't aware of it, Rikers Island services the New York City area as the main holding facility for mid-long term inmates within the system. It isn't exclusive to that type of inmate, any more than any other Jail is specialized..but that is how it works out to my understanding of the NYC correctional system.
Within that island exists a permenant population of over 12,000 people (2000 Number) Those thousands of people are spread over 10 facilities that form "Rikers Island". Daily populations for comings and goings on short term inmates swell the population to 20,000 people or more. It's a 'mid-size city' in its own right, for the scale of many parts of the nation. In New York, of course? Its just the city jail. lol....
The City Jail is about to get a bit more humane though...and it's been a change in bad need of happening. The system there, up to now, hasn't been corrective as much as punitive and vicious in a nearly sadistic way.
Imagine..up to 3,000 days, or over 8 YEARS of accumulated total. 3,000 days in what is one of the most brutal, cruel and devestating means of punishing another human being, if they are not naturally loners or anti-social. Even if they are, at the start? The experience of removing time, control over environment, sleep, interaction with any other person, and general removal from life itself can break the best of them. Lengthy studies have been done on this, and found true and ongoing damage IS done to people by using solitary confinement punitively and for any constructive outcome or corrective purpose.
I did mention, they are reforming that tho....... FINALLY...
Source
There is also a downright evil practice they have had at Rikers called "owed time". Apparently, when released early and with solitary time "remaining", that time is still due. Parole approved? Tough.. You still have this time you owe back for solitary confinement, and the warden will get his time...period.
Not anymore, as they are saying up to 1,000 names will be cleared in just the act of eliminating "owed time". (They really have run this place however the mood struck them, haven't they?? Logic took a rain check).
Perhaps the biggest change for human decency though, is that they can't use the solitary blocks to hide and warehouse the mentally ill any longer. After all, you tell me! What could possibly go wrong in placing a mentally ill person within a situation known (and sometimes used specifically FOR) breaking strong and healthy men?
I guess it would be a literal statement to say, the sun is finally shining on some at Rikers who may not have seen it in a very long time.
Within that island exists a permenant population of over 12,000 people (2000 Number) Those thousands of people are spread over 10 facilities that form "Rikers Island". Daily populations for comings and goings on short term inmates swell the population to 20,000 people or more. It's a 'mid-size city' in its own right, for the scale of many parts of the nation. In New York, of course? Its just the city jail. lol....
The City Jail is about to get a bit more humane though...and it's been a change in bad need of happening. The system there, up to now, hasn't been corrective as much as punitive and vicious in a nearly sadistic way.
Calling solitary confinement a "dangerous practice," their complaint notes that a Corrections Department-commissioned report labeled it "one of the most severe forms of punishment that can be inflicted on human beings short of killing them."
The Yale and New York University-affiliated psychiatrists who wrote the report found that 41 percent of solitary inmates at Rikers are mentally ill, isolation stints stretched up to 3,000 days, and that the "torture" of isolation could cause or aggravate "psychosis."
The Corrections Department's board unanimously voted on Jan. 13 this year to overhaul their solitary practices.
The Yale and New York University-affiliated psychiatrists who wrote the report found that 41 percent of solitary inmates at Rikers are mentally ill, isolation stints stretched up to 3,000 days, and that the "torture" of isolation could cause or aggravate "psychosis."
The Corrections Department's board unanimously voted on Jan. 13 this year to overhaul their solitary practices.
Imagine..up to 3,000 days, or over 8 YEARS of accumulated total. 3,000 days in what is one of the most brutal, cruel and devestating means of punishing another human being, if they are not naturally loners or anti-social. Even if they are, at the start? The experience of removing time, control over environment, sleep, interaction with any other person, and general removal from life itself can break the best of them. Lengthy studies have been done on this, and found true and ongoing damage IS done to people by using solitary confinement punitively and for any constructive outcome or corrective purpose.
I did mention, they are reforming that tho....... FINALLY...
Two weeks before these rules were memorialized, the prisons banned solitary for inmates younger than 18. The department plans to raise a minimum age of 21 next year, if they obtained enough resources and staffing to implement the change, according to the 15-page notice of the rules.
The mentally ill and the seriously physically disabled also will be excluded starting this weekend, the rules state.
Inmates in solitary for nonviolent-jailhouse infractions will spend at least seven out-of-cell hours a day, instead of one, and maximum terms cap at 30 days, the notice says.
The mentally ill and the seriously physically disabled also will be excluded starting this weekend, the rules state.
Inmates in solitary for nonviolent-jailhouse infractions will spend at least seven out-of-cell hours a day, instead of one, and maximum terms cap at 30 days, the notice says.
There is also a downright evil practice they have had at Rikers called "owed time". Apparently, when released early and with solitary time "remaining", that time is still due. Parole approved? Tough.. You still have this time you owe back for solitary confinement, and the warden will get his time...period.
Not anymore, as they are saying up to 1,000 names will be cleared in just the act of eliminating "owed time". (They really have run this place however the mood struck them, haven't they?? Logic took a rain check).
Perhaps the biggest change for human decency though, is that they can't use the solitary blocks to hide and warehouse the mentally ill any longer. After all, you tell me! What could possibly go wrong in placing a mentally ill person within a situation known (and sometimes used specifically FOR) breaking strong and healthy men?
I guess it would be a literal statement to say, the sun is finally shining on some at Rikers who may not have seen it in a very long time.