Last month, prompted by a 2012 lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, New York State agreed to change its solitary confinement policies—making it the largest prison system in the United States to implement such reforms.  Significantly, New York State will now prohibit the use of solitary confinement as a disciplinary tool for minors and inmates who are pregnant. Additionally, the agreement imposes guidelines dictating the length of punishment allowed for different infractions and a maximum sentencing length for solitary confinement punishments. Prisoners serving extreme isolation sentences typically spend 23 hours per day in a cell, receiving meals through a slot in the door.  An hour of outdoor recreation takes place in a walled-in, solitary pen.

Solitary confinement has long been an object of criticism for prison reform advocates.  In 2013, Tamms Year Ten, a prison reform organization, succeeded in their campaign to close the Illinois Tamms Supermax prison, a facility where every prisoner was held in solitary confinement.  While initially intended to serve as a one-year punishment for the most disruptive prisoners, Tamms often ended up housing prisoners for far longer.  At the time of its closing, an estimated 25% of the prisoners had been in continuous solitary confinement for at least ten years.  According to critics, that kind of sensory deprivation is especially cruel.  John McCain, who endured solitary confinement as a POW in Vietnam, said that it “crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment”.

While the reforms committed to by New York State may serve as a model for prison reform in other states, particularly in light of recent court decisions changing other sentencing guidelines, it will not change policies in place at the local level in New York.  Riker’s Island, a city-run jail populated largely by inmates with pending cases, will continue to allow solitary confinement for minors.  And despite years of criticism, the number of prisoners held in isolation in the United States is greater than in any other democracy.  So though the New York State reforms represent a win for prison reform advocates it is clear such organizations have many more battles ahead.