Skylar Albertson spoke before NYC Board of Correction on solitary confinement concerns
On November 18th, Skylar Albertson spoke at a NYC Board of Correction (BOC) meeting concerning the use of solitary confinement and the Department of Correction’s (DOC) proposal to create Enhanced Supervision Housing (ESH) units at Rikers Island. The BOC, an independent oversight agency responsible for setting guidelines for the DOC, has been engaged in a…
Huffington Post: Prisoners’ Rights Advocates React To Retirement Of Rikers Official Who Oversaw Violent Facility
NEW YORK — Prisoners’ rights advocates and lawmakers on Tuesday welcomed the news that the top uniformed official at New York City’s Department of Correction, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to rampant violence in a Rikers Island juvenile detention facility, is stepping down. Chief of Department William Clemons, who climbed to…
Le Nouvel Observateur: Dans L’enfer de Rikers Island
“Several were younger than me, I can’t imagine myself in their places. These youths are completely dehumanized, they are called ‘bing monsters.’ It’s terrible to see that it is considered normal to brutalize youths this young.” – Skylar Albertson, Assistant to the Director, The Bronx Defenders “We have paid bail for 140 people, who were…
Dave Casellas testifies about solitary confinement at NYC Council Hearing
Written Comments of The Bronx Defenders New York City Council Joint Meeting of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Juvenile Justice Good afternoon. My name is Dave Casellas, and I work as a client coordinator at The Bronx Defenders. In this role, I help Bronx Defenders clients and their families…
The New Yorker: Getting Teen-agers out of Solitary at Rikers
In this week’s New Yorker, I wrote about a sixteen-year-old boy from the Bronx named Kalief Browder, who was accused of robbery and confined on Rikers Island. He stayed there for three years, waiting for a trial that never happened. For the majority of that time, he was in solitary confinement, locked in a cell…
Los Angeles Times: Op-Ed: Cruel and usual punishment in jails and prisons
The 8th Amendment bans cruel and unusual punishment. Yet it happens every day in prisons across the country. Putting aside capital punishment, which I would argue is cruel and unusual on its face, Americans are ignoring a host of horrific conditions that inmates are subjected to. This is not only morally and constitutionally dangerous; it…
Solitary Watch: Seven Days in Solitary
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. The American Civil Liberties Union released 26 reports alleging extensive abuses in Arizona’s prisons, including claims that individuals are being placed in solitary confinement because prison beds elsewhere are…
Village Voice: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island is Torture and “Inexcusably Extreme,” Bronx Defenders Say
Inmates are placed in solitary confinement at Rikers Island for “inexcusably extreme” amounts of time, a new report charges, “egregiously disproportionate” to the infractions they are alleged to have committed. While in solitary, it can be difficult for inmates to get access to the most basic of services, including food, showers, and phone time. That’s…
NY Daily News: Rikers Island ‘box’ counts as ‘torture’ for jail inmates: defense attorneys
‘The interviews expose a systemic practice that is unquestionably inhumane,’ concludes the report by The Bronx Defenders. Of the 59 inmates interviewed, some were as young as 16 — and their median age was 20. The “horrific conditions” endured by inmates in solitary confinement at Rikers Island are exposed in a report released Thursday by a…
WNYC: In Solitary, Inmates Languish, Despair and Attempt Suicide: Report
The Otis Bantum Correctional Center has the largest solitary confinement unit on Rikers Island. It holds roughly 400 inmates, according to the Board of Correction. The Otis Bantum Correctional Center has the largest solitary confinement unit on Rikers Island. It holds roughly 400 inmates, according to the Board of Correction. (Brigid Bergin/WNYC) A new report…
The Bronx Defenders releases its report “Voices From the Box: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 12, 2014 Contact: Skylar Albertson, The Bronx Defenders, (347) 842-1215, SkylarA@bronxdefenders.org Voices From the Box: Solitary Confinement at Rikers Island New York – The Bronx Defenders released a report summarizing the experiences of 59 current and former clients who were subjected to extreme isolation in solitary confinement at Rikers Island. The…
An important legislative step to bring transparency to the use of solitary confinement
The Bronx Defenders was at City Hall yesterday where Mayor de Blasio signed into law Intro-292A, which will bring increased transparency to the use of solitary confinement in New York City jails, an important first step toward ending this torturous practice. Under this law the Department of Corrections will be required to publish four reports a…
El Diario: Exigen que se termine el maltrato de reos en las cárceles de NY
Activistas y concejales municipales exigieron a viva voz reformas en las prisiones de la ciudad. El grupo se congregó el lunes en las escalinatas de la alcaldía en donde, de paso, se entregaron más detalles de un proyecto de ley que quiere que los Departamentos de Correccionales y de Salud publiquen información detallada sobre los…
The Bronx Defenders responds to US Attorney report on deplorable conditions facing adolescents at Rikers Island
The Bronx Defenders condemns the conditions adolescents at Rikers Island are being held in and the treatment they are subjected to as outlined in the August 4, 2014 report by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Barara. For too long, the city of New York has neglected adolescents involved in the…
The New York Times: Ill and in Solitary at Rikers
Read The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson’s “Letter to Editor” published in The New York Times in response to their recent article on mental illness among inmates at Rikers Island: To the Editor: “Where Mental Illness Meets Brutality in Jail” (front page, July 14) paints a horrifying but accurate picture of the abuse that mentally ill…
The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson Delivers Testimony at Solitary Confinement Hearing
On Thursday, June 12th, 2014, The Bronx Defenders’ Skylar Albertson delivered testimony at the Joint Meeting of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services and the Committee on Mental Health, Development Disability, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Disability Services Solitary Confinement Hearing. Since January, Albertson and Social Work Intern Leah Baez have conducted 23 interviews with…