NYC Board of Correction to vote on rules barring solitary confinement

NEW YORK — The Board of Correction is expected to vote Tuesday on rules about the use of solitary confinement in New York City jails stemming from a law sharply limiting the practice passed in December by the City Council.

One dynamic newly at play is a board makeup that is different than it was in 2023 when a five-member majority sued the Adams administration for blocking board access to jail security video. The suit forced the city to reinstate that access.

The group also blocked Chairman Dwayne Sampson’s attempt to unilaterally fire BOC Executive Director Jasmine Georges-Yilla.

Gone from the nine-member board are two members of that group: Dr. Rachel Bedard, who stepped down to become campaign finance chairwoman for state Sen. Zellnor Myrie’s run for mayor, and Jackie Sherman, general counsel with the Independent Budget Office, who was not reappointed by the Adams administration.

The Bedard seat, which is controlled by the City Council, was filled Thursday by Helen Skipper, the executive director of the NYC Justice Peer Initiative, who has said she “grew up on Rikers Island.”

Meanwhile, intrigue surrounds the seat previously held by Sherman — one of three slots that are nominated under the city Charter by the presiding judges from the 1st and 2nd Departments and then selected by the mayor. She was originally appointed in 2018 by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Three sources familiar with the sequence told the Daily News that Sherman cleared background checks and was nominated by the judges, Hector LaSalle and Dianne Renwick, in October.

Seven months passed, and then, the sources said, Sherman’s name was quietly and abruptly withdrawn, and retired Judge Barry Cozier was nominated by the same judges in May.

“Presiding Justices LaSalle and Renwick have no comment on this matter,” said Alfred Baker, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.

Sources said Sherman only learned she was not reappointed in late May from an aide to Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks. Sherman declined comment Monday.

“If the mayor refuses to accept their nomination and instead appoints his own choice, he is removing the input of those justices and makes the BOC effectively compromised and in the pocket of the mayor,” Councilwoman Sandy Nurse said Monday.

“The BOC needs to be in a position to hold the Department of Correction accountable. It cannot do that if it is beholden to the mayor.”

Said Bedard, “Jackie Sherman is an exemplary citizen advocate who provided an incredible service to the city as a longstanding member of the BOC. I was very disappointed to hear that she was unceremoniously terminated despite her willingness to continue to serve.”

Cozier, 72, was a judge from 1986 to 2006. He is now in private practice focusing on commercial litigation. He has also served on attorney discipline and city buildings commissions and has been an adjunct at the Fordham Law School.

“Jackie Sherman’s six-year term has ended, and we thank her for her service,” mayoral spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said in a statement. “After Judges LaSalle and Renwick recommended Barry Cozier to join the BOC, Mayor Adams accepted their recommendation and made the appointment.”

Cozier told the New York Daily News on Monday he had no contact with Adams administration officials prior to his appointment.

“I was nominated by the presiding justices of the 1st and 2nd Department. I went through the clearance and was appointed by the mayor in May,” he said.

“There are a number of major issues before the Board of Correction, and they are all very critical issues and the hope is these will contribute to needed improvements on Rikers Island.”

The City Council passed Intro 549-A, the solitary confinement bill in December. Adams vetoed the bill and the Council overrode the veto in January.

The law, known as Local Law 42, goes into effect July 28 and bans keeping a person alone in a cell for more than two hours, not including sleep.

On June 5, the city asked Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain to intervene and suspended implementation of the Council law.

Swain is presiding over the Nunez class action lawsuit over violence and staff uses of force in the jails. A hearing on the city’s request is expected July 9.

Steve Martin, the federal monitor overseeing the jails, has also questioned elements of the solitary law.

The three remaining members who sued DOC over the video and have been administration critics are Vice Chairwoman DeAnna Hoskins, Dr. Robert Cohen and Felipe Franco.

The core Adams supporters are Sampson, the chairman, and former DOC employees Joseph Ramos and Jacqueline Pitts.

Adams appointed Jude Torchenaud, a career child welfare worker for the city, in October. Where he may fall in the spectrum is less clear.

The full slate of rules that the board is expected to vote on includes a ban on segregating someone who has been in a fight for more than six hours, bars emergency lock-ins of more than six hours, and bars the use of restraints on people younger than 22 except while being transported.

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