NEW YORK — The New York City agency that oversees jails outlined on Friday its proposed changes to the rules governing the nation's second-largest jail system, including the creation of severely restrictive housing units for inmates at Rikers Island who are deemed the most dangerous.
The proposal also adjusts the rules for putting inmates in solitary confinement, including a recommendation that inmates age 21 and younger be exempt from the punishment unless they've been accused of violence while in jail.
The Board of Correction will vote Tuesday at a public meeting to update the minimum standards for inmates, which carry the full force of law. The nine-member board is expected to approve the rule change.
The $14.8 million "enhanced supervision housing" units, proposed in response to surging levels of violence on Rikers Island, would allow wardens to lock 250 inmates in their cells up to 17 hours a day, restrict their movements and access to the law library, monitor their mail and limit contact visits.
Infractions that would land inmates in the units include seriously injuring other inmates or staff, jail gang violence and possession of small blades.
The proposal also calls for 40 hours of training for guards to recognize mental health disorders and to learn how to deescalate tense situations.
But inmate advocates and others have complained the proposed housing area would open without specific plans for therapy, programming and other activities designed to address the root causes of violence and limit idle time — something the rules call for to be implemented by July 2015.
At a public hearing last month, the former head of mental health services in city jails testified that previous attempts to create special housing units for troublesome inmates that similarly claimed would provide therapeutic services ultimately turned into restrictive, punitive holding pens. Inmate advocates and civil rights groups further argued the proposed units would infringe on inmate rights.