Arroyo, Braunstein, Cook, Davila, Galef, Glick, Markey, Robinson, Simon
Amd S137, Cor L
Restricts the segregated confinement of pregnant inmates to situations where there are exceptional circumstances which would create an unacceptable risk to other inmates or staff.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1347
SPONSOR: Rozic (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the correction law, in relation to the
segregated confinement of pregnant inmates
PURPOSE: To exclude pregnant prisoners from solitary confinement in
New York correctional facilities.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section I amends the opening paragraph of subdivision 6 of section 137
of the correction law.
Section II adds a new paragraph (g) to subdivision 6 of section 137 of
the correction law. Section III sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION: Solitary confinement is overused in New York prisons
and jails. At any given time, approximately 8% of the state prison popu-
lation is in the special housing unit, known as SHU, but only around 16%
of those inmates are placed in such housing units because they committed
violent offenses. Of the 84% of inmates placed in SHU for non-violent
offenses, many committed disciplinary infractions involving misbehavior
such as being out of place, possessing some kind of contraband other
than weapons, failing to obey an order from a correctional officer or
smoking marijuana. The average length of stay in SHU in state prisons
was five months in a recent survey conducted by the Correctional Associ-
ation.
Solitary confinement in this state involves locking a person in a small
cell, generally about the size of an average apartment bathroom, for 23
hours a day, with one hour of exercise in an outdoor caged recreation
area similar to a dog kennel. Inmates in SHU are not permitted to eat
their own food or buy commissary items, including personal hygiene items
and fresh vegetables and fruit. They have very limited personal property
and cannot attend programs or make phone calls, have cell-side sick call
and are left without meaningful social contacts or personal freedom of
motion. Inmates in SHU are more likely to attempt self-harm, commit
suicide and suffer from anxiety and depression. The UN Rapporteur on
Torture has specifically found that New York has engaged in torture of
at least three inmates in long-term solitary confinement in state
correctional facilities, simply by virtue of placing them under the same
kinds of conditions of confinement shared by all inmates held in SHU.
While solitary confinement is difficult on all inmates, it is an excru-
ciating hardship on pregnant women. Constricted movement and restricted
access to medical and mental health care alone, even without the other
deprivations inherent in solitary confinement, make time spent in SHU a
very harsh punishment for a pregnant woman. Unless a pregnant woman
poses a severe and immediate threat to the safety of other people, she
should not be placed in SHU. If placed in SHU under exception circum-
stances, she should be released as soon as it is safe to do so in order
to receive the care, exercise, and nutrition critical in every pregnan-
cy.
Under the terms of an interim settlement agreement in a federal civil
rights law suit, Peoples v. Fischer, 11-CIV-2694 (SAS), the New York
Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has agreed to a
presumption against placing pregnant women in SHU unless there are
exceptional circumstances. This bill would codify and expand that agree-
ment to ensure that the state does not back slide and that pregnant
women are not sent back to isolation if a final settlement agreement is
not reached. Since Correction Law Section 137 applies to local correc-
tional facilities as well as the prison system, this new subdivision
will also apply to pregnant women in jails throughout New York.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2014: A09550 (Rozic) - Passed Assembly
FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE: None.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1347
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 12, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, O'DONNELL, BARRETT, MAYER, CLARK, GOTT-
FRIED, JAFFEE, LUPARDO, MOSLEY, PEOPLES-STOKES, ROBERTS, ROSENTHAL,
SCARBOROUGH, SEPULVEDA, TITONE, WRIGHT -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of
A. ARROYO, BRAUNSTEIN, CAMARA, GLICK, MARKEY -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to the segregated
confinement of pregnant inmates
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of subdivision 6 of section 137 of
2 the correction law, as amended by chapter 1 of the laws of 2008, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 Except as provided in paragraphs (d) [and], (e), and (g) of this
5 subdivision, the superintendent of a correctional facility may keep any
6 inmate confined in a cell or room, apart from the accommodations
7 provided for inmates who are participating in programs of the facility,
8 for such period as may be necessary for maintenance of order or disci-
9 pline, but in any such case the following conditions shall be observed:
10 § 2. Subdivision 6 of section 137 of the correction law is amended by
11 adding a new paragraph (g) to read as follows:
12 (g) Segregated confinement is prohibited for pregnant inmates, inmates
13 who have given birth within the past eight weeks and inmate mothers
14 living with infants in prison nursery programs.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01724-02-5
