City Council & Public Advocate File Lawsuit and PA, Council Members & Community Members Rally to Urge DOC to Implement Local Law 42 to End Solitary Confinement
Challenging the Mayor’s Illegal Executive Orders and With People Continuing to Suffer in Solitary Confinement, the Lawsuit and Rally Participants Urge DOC to Utilize Alternatives Proven to Reduce Violence and Better Protect People’s Health
(New York, NY) – Today, the New York City Council and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams filed a lawsuit – with the #HALTsolitary Campaign & Jails Action Coalition, represented by the Cardozo Civil Rights Clinic, as well as public defender offices, and the New York Civil Liberties Union as amici – challenging the Mayor’s illegal executive orders and demanding implementation of Local Law 42 to end solitary confinement and utilize proven alternatives. The lawsuit, and amicus briefs to be filed, lay out how the Mayor does not have the legal authority to issue executive orders to usurp the legislative function of the Council and the public’s participation in the democratic process. After a more than 12-year robust and deliberative democratic process – spurred on by people who have lived through solitary and those who lost loved ones due to solitary – a supermajority of the City Council enacted Local Law 42. The Mayor can not use executive orders as an end around of the Council’s veto override. After the lawsuit was filed, the Public Advocate, Council Members, and community members rallied on the steps of City Hall to demand the Mayor and Department of Correction implement Local Law 42 to end solitary confinement and utilize alternatives proven to reduce violence and better protect people’s health. Please see the Council’s petition and brief, and the amicus briefs to be filed by public defenders and #HALTsolitary/Jails Action Coalition.
“The bottom line is that the practices that LL42 outlawed are torture, plain and simple,” said Meghna Philip, Interim Director of the Impact Litigation Practice at The Bronx Defenders. “Despite what the Mayor says, there is nothing supporting his claim that LL42 will create or accelerate a public safety emergency in NYC jails. In fact, his suspension of this law is among the myriad ways the Mayor has made Rikers Island more dangerous. As public defenders we have witnessed firsthand the abuse, violence, and irreversible trauma caused by solitary on the people we represent. The courts must step in to stop this unlawful use of unilateral Executive power and ensure that LL42 is fully implemented.”
Anisah Sabur, #HALTsolitary Campaign and Unlock the Box and survivor of solitary on Rikers, said: “We applaud the City Council, the Speaker, the Public Advocate, and our fellow amici for today’s lawsuit challenging the Mayor’s illegal executive orders and demanding DOC implement Local Law 42. Solitary confinement is torture. It causes immense suffering, devastating harm, and death. It also worsens safety for everyone. After more than a 12 year campaign and robust, deliberative democratic process, a supermajority of the City Council overrode the Mayor’s veto to enact Local Law 42. This law will end solitary and instead use alternatives proven to reduce violence and better protect people’s health. The Mayor can not usurp the Council’s legislative authority and all of our public participation in the democratic process by issuing illegal executive orders to continue DOC’s torture regime. It is finally time for the Mayor and DOC to follow the law, stop torture, improve safety, and save lives by ending solitary once and for all.”
Chaplain Dr. Victoria A. Phillips, Jails Action Coalition and Visionary V Ministries, said: “With two decades of experience in correctional facilities, alongside roles as a chaplain, community leader, mental health professional, and resident, I have witnessed firsthand the pressing need for reform. The ongoing public health crisis at Rikers Island necessitates a comprehensive strategy that includes prevention, treatment, and investment in community resources. This approach should prioritize diversion, family reunification, housing stabilization, and holistic recovery to ensure long-term wellness. Local Law 42, which ends solitary confinement, is a grassroots initiative shaped by New Yorkers who dedicated over 12 years to its creation before it was enacted. Now is the time for its implementation. I am reminded of the call for justice after Bradley Ballard’s tragic death. It is shockingly inhumane that in 2024, the city still debates how laws can prevent deaths or lifelong trauma. How many lives could have been saved since Bradley’s? The Department of Correction cannot be excused, having been caught on tape laughing at Layleen. The mayor cannot circumvent the council’s veto override with executive orders; he too must abide by the law, as solitary confinement is acknowledged as a form of torture. Today we thank and stand in solidarity with Speaker Adams, City Council members, and Public Advocate Williams.”
“Today, the City Council has rightly challenged Mayor Adams’s unlawful emergency order, which is yet another abuse of power by his administration that endangers the lives of incarcerated New Yorkers,” said Ify Chikezie, staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Solitary confinement is nothing less than torture and disproportionately affects Black and Brown New Yorkers. The NYCLU stands with the City Council as they fight to compel the Adams administration to fulfill its obligation to follow the law.”
“The democratic process of lawmaking cannot justifiably be declared a state of emergency, and Mayor Adams’ emergency orders are an unlawful and unprecedented abuse of power,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “The City Council overrode the Mayor’s veto to ban solitary confinement in city jails because its use has been proven to cause physical, psychological, and emotional harm and makes our city and jails less safe. Mayor Adams’ decision to exceed his legal authority, simply because he was overruled, undermines the foundation of our democracy, and it must be invalidated. This lawsuit is aimed at ensuring mayoral abuse of democratic government cannot stand, and the human rights and safety crisis on Rikers caused by maintaining the status quo of failed policies and practices is discontinued.”
“Despite his desperate power grabs, this mayor can’t just ignore the laws he doesn’t like,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, sponsor of Introduction 549-A/Local Law 42 of 2024. “Ending the harmful isolation of solitary is a moral and legal imperative, yet the administration is desperately trying to maintain a status quo on Rikers that is dangerous to people on both sides of the bars. I am proud to partner with the Speaker to ensure that the mayor can’t continue abusing the declaration of a ‘state of emergency’ to preserve his ego or political goals. We can’t simply pardon or excuse this mayor’s attempt to emulate the worst impulses of Donald Trump at the expense of New Yorkers, and I urge the court to end his false emergency so we can address the real crisis.”
“Emergency Executive Orders are not tools for any Mayor to misuse in undermining laws passed by the City Council,” said Council Member Sandy Nurse, Chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice. “Local Law 42 was enacted to save lives and reduce violence in our city jails, reflecting the will of the Council and the people we serve. Mayor Adams’ actions demonstrate a troubling disregard for our democratic process, the City Charter, and his duty to protect New Yorkers. This lawsuit is unfortunate, but a necessary step to hold him accountable for this unprecedented overreach of power.”
“City Council is a co-equal branch of government, and passed legislation to prohibit solitary confinement in City jails with a veto-proof majority. For decades, solitary confinement has been used as a disciplinary tool in our jail system, and the reality is this: no matter what you call it, solitary confinement is horrific, and inhumane. We must strive for a criminal legal system that leads the nation in reforms rather than accepting a status quo where our neighbors are locked away in abusive and dangerous conditions, and the administration must fully implement this law as passed” said Council Member Carlina Rivera (D-02).
“For years, the inhumane restrictive housing practices in New York City jails have inflicted immense physical and mental trauma on incarcerated New Yorkers,” said Lucas Marquez, Director of Civil Rights and Law Reform at Brooklyn Defenders. “On behalf of the countless solitary survivors and those that have lost their lives at Rikers, the City Council passed Local Law 42 to end the torture of solitary confinement. Yet the administration has flouted LL42, failing to implement the law’s safeguards and due process protections. DOC continues to impose the draconian practice, from ‘deadlocking’ to cages-within-cells, on people in its custody. We cannot allow these abuses to continue and urge the court to take action to stop this torture.”
“Solitary confinement is an abuse of human rights,” said Lori Zeno, Executive Director of Queens Defenders. “We stand in solidarity with the New York City Council, Council Speaker Adams, and Public Advocate Williams in their momentous lawsuit challenging the Mayor’s illegal executive orders and demand the implementation of Local Law 42 to finally end solitary confinement. The time has come for the City of New York to end this abhorrent abuse and we urge the court to prioritize the health and safety of people in DOC custody.”
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