We have all seen movies that depict the horrors of prolonged solitary confinement on inmates–disorientation, panic, and mental instability.
Imagine then, the effects on juvenile offenders, 16 and 17 years old. Just ask Kalief Browder who spent three years in solitary confinement at NYC’s Rikers Island without being tried, convicted or sentenced after his arrest for robbery.
Jennifer Gonnerman, freelance writer, who has covered the criminal justice system for 15 years, spoke to NPR’s Robert Siegel on “All Things Considered” yesterday about her interview with Browder, released from Rikers 16 months ago. Asked how he is doing now, Gonnerman says:
“You know, he’s been out of jail now for 16 months, but you can still see the toll that jail, and particularly solitary, took on him. You know, he told me recently that he’s still having flashback to his time on Rikers Island and that in some ways, they’re becoming even more frequent.
And I asked him, you know, what is an example? What kind of flashbacks are you really having? Is it when you see a police car drive by or a prison show on TV? And he said no, it could be anything. It could be his mom handing him a plate of rice and beans. And then he starts thinking about how he had that meal when he was locked up in solitary on Rikers and he thought about how lonely, hungry, depressed he was when he was there. And suddenly, he’s, you know, in his mind he’s just right back there in solitary confinement.”
Gonnerman details Browder’s story (“Before the Law”) in the October 6, 2014 edition of The New Yorker magazine.
Nonetheless, Browder’s ordeal is not an uncommon occurrence at Rikers Island. The use of solitary confinement for juvenile offenders at Rikers led the Justice Department to harshly criticize the policy.
In the September 29, 2014 article for Huffington Post, Jake Pearson writes:
“Last month, a scathing Department of Justice review of how 16- to 18-year-old inmates are jailed on Rikers found that among other things, they are too often subjected to solitary, which is called punitive segregation in New York but referred to by inmates and guards as The Bing.”
Consequently, NYC Jail Commissioner Joseph Ponte sent a memo to Mayor Bill de Blasio stating that by December 2014, the policy of punishing 16 to 17 year olds with solitary confinement will end.
Gonnerman, however, remains skeptical.
“And, you know, the overuse of solitary in the New York City jail system has been a huge problem for years. And so while the rest of the country seems to have woken up to the fact that solitary can create very, very serious sort of mental health problems and has moved away from it, New York City has, until recently, been moving in the opposite direction. So they have a lot to sort undue in terms of their sort of culture of excessive solitary confinement and this is the very first step.”
Browder currently has a lawsuit pending because of his ordeal.
On Parole: Reality Bites
Posted: November 21, 2014 in Commentary, criminal justice, ex-offenders, ParoleIn April and May 2014, I wrote a series of three blogs “Coming Home: The First Thirty Days” about my 27-year old grandson’s first weeks on parole after a two-year stretch in upstate New York for passing contraband to his cousin (who was serving time) on a visit.
By the time of his release, he had saved $1500, a substantial amount; however, without a job, his funds were not likely to last for long.
After a short stint at a halfway house, he rented a room in the Bronx and went about the business of looking for work.
He hoped to return to a previous job he had held, working with his father for a moving company. Unfortunately, he learned that he could not work for that company again until he joined the union. He could not afford to.
Discouraged, yet still hopeful, he kept parole appointments and continued job hunting.
I put together a list of NYC organizations that provide assistance to ex-offenders; I am not sure if he followed up because after our third and final interview, we did not speak again.
On the personal side, he was re-establishing a relationship with his 8-year old daughter.
In reality, he did not have much support–financially or otherwise. He had siblings in the city, they were struggling too. His mother had relocated to another city.
During the first interview he said that he wanted to “earn a certificate in electrical wiring and start a business flipping houses.” He also wanted to change his “wrong behaviors and patterns.
I prayed that he could successfully navigate the dangerous waters of post-prison life; nonetheless, I felt that without a mentor, a realistic plan, or a steady income, it would be tough.
Although he would never have admitted it to me (or perhaps, anyone else) I think that deep inside he worried that he might not be able to make things work.
I sensed that he was lonely but did not have anyone to whom he could express any fears or doubts. There were certain things, he said, that he would not discuss, even with his girlfriend or his father.
Recently, he has been out of touch with family, and oftentimes his whereabouts are a mystery.
My grandson, and other parolees, face many barriers adjusting to life on the outside; they are released with almost no resources to cope with social or emotional problems, limited job opportunities, meager job training programs, and a shortage of affordable housing.
It is little surprise that many of them return to prison.
Still, against all odds, I continue to believe that he will not be one of them.
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