RESOLUTION - Solitary — File 203486

WHEREAS: Solitary confinement, also known as “segregation,” is used in the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) and the Houses of Correction (HOC) across the Commonwealth as a means to separate and isolate incarcerated individuals for disciplinary action, or where the DOC or HOC otherwise find individuals unsuitable for general population; and WHEREAS: According to Natasha Frost, professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University, solitary confinement has negative psychological and behavioral effects, especially for those with pre-existing mental health conditions; and WHEREAS: Prisoners’ Legal Services, a MA non-profit advocacy organization, considers the practice of confinement to be both ineffective and inhumane, estimating that Massachusetts is spending between $100,000 to $170,000 per year for each inmate in segregation, compared to $50,000 to house an inmate in a regular cell block; and WHEREAS: In 2012, the Massachusetts Sheriff’s Association estimated that 42% of individuals in the House of Correction have some form of mental illness, 26% being a serious mental illness, and as of the start of 2015, 28% of men and 59% of women in custody of the Department of Correction had open mental health cases according to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security; and WHEREAS: In response to a survey co-authored by the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School, the Massachusetts DOC reported a daily population of 463 individuals held in restricted housing, 235 of whom had been in restricted housing for more than fifteen consecutive days; and WHEREAS: Furthermore, the Massachusetts DOC reported holding 65 people in segregation for six months to one year; 71 people for one to three years; 24 people for three to six years; and 43 people for six or more years; and WHEREAS: African-American individuals are overrepresented in solitary confinement units in Massachusetts, including the Departmental Disciplinary Unit (DDU), which amounts to disparate burden on our communities of color; and WHEREAS: S.1306 and HD.3460, titled “An Act Reducing Recidivism, Curbing Unnecessary Spending, and Ensuring Appropriate Use of Segregation,” sponsored by Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Russell Holmes, and S.1296 and HD. 2337, titled “An Act to Promote Human Conditions of Confinement and Enable Safe Reentry,” sponsored by Senator Cynthia Creem and Representative Ruth Balser, would protect vulnerable groups

from unnecessary placement in solitary confinement, ensure that all forms of solitary confinement for disciplinary purposes are limited to fifteen days, improve the conditions of non-disciplinary solitary confinement so that they approximate the conditions of general population, require step down from solitary confinement to the general population before release, provide prisoners with an administrative hearing before they can be sent to segregation, and the former bills create a statewide segregation oversight committee charged with collecting data and publishing a report with recommendations for appropriately limiting the use of solitary Confinement in Massachusetts; and WHEREAS: There is a concerning lack of data regarding the use of solitary confinement, though data collection would help pinpoint how to better allocate state, county, and municipal monies for mental health and substance use services within facilities, as well as for treatment beds in community, and for re-entry service programs designed to assist those with experience in solitary confinement who return to our communities; and WHEREAS: S.1286 and HD.3368, titled “An Act to collect data regarding the use of solitary confinement in Massachusetts prisons and jails,” sponsored by Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz and Representative Christopher Markey, would prompt important data collection practices; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Somerville Board of Aldermen does hereby support S.1306, HD.3460, S.1296, HD.2337, S.1286, HD.3368, and efforts taken by the Massachusetts legislature to reform the use of solitary confinement.