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STATE BAR ASSOCIATION CALLS FOR RESTRICTIONS
ON USE OF LONG-TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

Citing strong evidence that demonstrates long-term negative impacts of housing inmates in solitary confinement, the New York State Bar Association today called for significant cutbacks in the use of long-term inmate isolation and new protocols for separating violent and nonviolent prisoners.
 
The Association’s House of Delegates approved the report on solitary confinement, prepared by the Committee on Civil Rights, at its January 25 meeting in New York City.
 
Of the approximately 56,000 inmates being held in New York’s 60 state prisons, about 4,500—or 8 percent— are in solitary confinement at any time, according to the report. Nearly 2,800 New York inmates are serving more than a year in solitary confinement, the report states. A disproportionate number of inmates in isolation are African-Americans and Latinos.
 
“Inmates in long-term solitary confinement often suffer serious psychological problems, including depression, hallucinations, emotional breakdowns and suicidal behavior,” said State Bar Association President Seymour W. James (The Legal Aid Society in New York City.) “New York needs to adopt other means of separating prisoners who violate institutional rules from the general prison population without resorting to such harmful and outdated measures.”