On Jul. 25, three survivors of solitary confinement, along with members of the Coalition for Women Prisoners, other survivors, family members and allies will hold demonstrations across New York State to demand an end to what survivors call the racist and deadly torture of solitary confinement.

 

Kevin Mays, campaigner for #HALTsolitary, Leonard Thomas of VOCAL-NY and Lady Kathryn Williams-Julien, along with their supporters and activists will be calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Carl E. Heastie  to enact the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, with immediate effect.

 

Activists say that solitary confinement has killed and destroyed the lives of countless Black people and other People of Color and is also disproportionately inflicted against Black Trans people. In 2019, activists say they know of at least six people who were tortured to death in solitary confinement in New York prisons alone. They also say it has been one year since solitary confinement killed Layleen Polanco, three years since it killed Dante Taylor, and five years since it killed Kalief Browder.

 

According to a report by Time, Polanco, who was arrested for allegedly assaulting a cab driver and for possession of a controlled substance, and who was being held at Rikers Island on a $500 bail, died on Jun. 7, 2019 following an epileptic seizure, according to a medical examiner. She had been placed in solitary confinement at the time of her death.

 

According to a report by the Washington Post, Taylor was an inmate at Wende Correctional Facility in New York when he took his own life. His mother, Darlene McDay, and family allege the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and prison staff drove Taylor to kill himself, claiming prison guards beat Taylor, tied his arms and legs, and threw him down a flight of stairs.

 

According to a report by the Innocence Project, on June 6, 2015, Browder took his own life following a brutal wrongful incarceration at Rikers Island. Browder was there for allegedly stealing a backpack but the charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. For two out of the three years while he was incarcerated, Browder was allegedly subjected to solitary confinement and beaten by prison guards multiples times.

 

U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, among others, has publicly called for an end to the practice of solitary confinement.

Layleen Polanco's treatment was inhumane and she deserves justice.

But she also shouldn’t have been in jail—let alone solitary confinement.

We need to end cash bail and solitary confinement, ensure medical care, and provide protections for LGBTQ+ people.https://t.co/EKzK2zWmOE

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 25, 2020

 

Demonstrations will take place on Thursday, Jun. 25 at 11:00 a.m. in person at the following locations, and on Zoom at https://bit.ly/HALTJune25Zoom

 

• NY Governor’s New York City office (633 3rd Ave. in Manhattan)
• NY Senate Majority Leader’s Yonkers office (28 Wells Avenue, Bldg 3, in Yonkers)
• NY Assembly Speaker’s Bronx office (1446 East Gun Hill Road in The Bronx)
• The NY State Capitol in Albany (Washington Ave entrance)
• Tompkins Public Library (101 E Green St. in Ithaca)
• Niagara Square, Buffalo
• State Office Building, Hauppauge, LI (250 Veteran’s Memorial Highway)