NY judge says Mayor Adams can’t block law restricting solitary confinement

Mayor Eric Adams didn’t follow the proper procedures when he declared a state of emergency and blocked a local law restricting the use of solitary confinement on Rikers Island, a New York state judge ruled Monday.

Justice Jeffrey Pearlman said the mayor declared a state of emergency to go around the City Council, even after lawmakers made changes to legislation on solitary confinement to include input from City Hall and the Department of Correction.

“When the City Council overturns a mayoral veto, it is not an emergency, it is a democratic process, clearly laid out in the New York City Charter,” Pearlman said in his decision. “By declaring a state of emergency and issuing emergency orders, he violated that process.”

Pearlman ordered the mayor to vacate his state of emergency and executive orders that prevented the law, known as local law 42, from taking effect. He also barred Adams from issuing new orders to block the law.

“The mayor must follow the law, just like every New Yorker, and cannot abuse the powers of the office,” Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said in a statement. “Solitary confinement has been proven to cause physical, psychological and emotional harm, making jails and our city less safe.”

State lawmakers passed their own bill in 2019 that limited the use of solitary confinement in New York prisons and large local jails. Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said in a statement that solitary confinement hasn’t been used in New York City jails since then.

“Local Law 42 creates a new definition of solitary confinement out of thin air and then aims to ban that,” she said. “Local Law 42 will create a public safety emergency in our jails that threatens the lives of both people in our care and our staff, and this court decision paves the way for that. We are reviewing our options.”

The Department of Correction and a spokesperson for the correction officer’s union did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The City Council passed a bill in December 2023 that prohibited jail staff from locking people up by themselves for extended periods of time. Adams opposed the bill, and vetoed it, then council members overrode his veto.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams sponsored the legislation, saying at the time that solitary confinement is “cruel,” “inhumane” and “can ruin people’s lives.” The mayor argued that the law would endanger correction officers.

Rikers Island has long been plagued by violence against both the people who work there and live there. In May, a federal judge announced that she would appoint an outside manager to address the high levels of violence and ensure that incarcerated people’s rights are protected.

A federal monitor tasked with overseeing conditions on the island said in a report earlier this year that City Council’s solitary confinement bill doesn’t give jail officials enough discretion to safely manage people who use violence or pose a threat to others.

The monitor said city jails already struggle to safely supervise people in detention because of high rates of absenteeism, inefficient deployment and a failure to follow basic security practices. The monitoring team said it wasn’t aware of any other correctional system in the country that prohibits any restrictions on out-of-cell time for people who commit serious violence.

Pearlman said in his ruling that a ban on solitary confinement shouldn’t happen without permission from the federal monitor. But he said the mayor should have brought his concerns to the judge who appointed the federal monitor instead of using his own emergency powers.

This story has been updated with additional information and comment from the mayor’s office.