Bill Calls for Data on Solitary Confinements

New York City Council member Daniel Dromm speaks on April 3, 2013. (D Dipasupil/Getty Images for PFLAG)

The NY City Council passed a bill on Thursday requiring city jails to report information on the inmates they place in solitary confinement. 

The city’s Department of Correction would have to publish a quarterly report onto its website, detailing the number of inmates in solitary confinement; their age, race, and gender; the length of confinement; whether they were subject to use of force; whether they were sexually or physically assaulted; whether they were allowed recreation time and other services; and whether they were injured or attempted suicide while in confinement, among other information. 

Council member Daniel Dromm introduced the bill more than two years ago after he witnessed his friend suffer when he was arrested on drug charges, jailed, and placed in solitary confinement.

At a press conference prior to the council voting, Dromm said the bill will be a major step toward “reforming a very broken system.” 

Speaker of the Council Melissa Mark-Viverito said the new bill will provide “more accountability with heightened transparency.”

The council also passed a resolution sponsored by Dromm calling on the Department of Correction to end the practice of “time owed” that requires inmates who are rearrested to complete the time in solitary confinement that they did not complete during a previous stay.