Rally held to raise awareness of law that aims to ban solitary confinement
Advocates say the law should go into effect on July 28.
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Public Advocate Jumaane Williams rallied on Tuesday to bring awareness to Local Law 42, which is meant to ban solitary confinement.
It's also something the New York City Department of Correction has said hasn’t been practiced in city jails since 2019.
Local law 42 has had quite the journey.
It was passed in December 2023 and then vetoed by Mayor Eric Adams.
That veto was then overridden in January.
On Tuesday, advocates met with the Board of Correction to encourage them to begin the process of implementation.
The DOC told News 12 in a statement:
“Solitary confinement, an internationally understood term defined by the U.N., is not a practice used in NYC jails. Period. Full stop. Anyone claiming otherwise is flat out wrong."
NYC Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams says that’s not the case.
“People say solitary doesn’t exist, I think they mean the type of thing they’ve seen in "[The] Shawshank Redemption," and we’ve seen people who were harmed and even killed in a form of solitary – being housed in showers and other spaces for longer than they should have been,” Williams told News 12.
Advocates say the law should go into effect on July 28.
