Q&A WITH DEPUTY CEO STANLEY RICHARDS ON SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

Q: Why have you devoted your advocacy efforts to ending solitary confinement?

Stanley: Because I know solitary confinement doesn’t work. I know that extreme isolation breeds more violence. The more we allow hurt people to be re-traumatized, we’re going to end up hurting more people. It is well beyond time that we change the way we manage our jails and our prisons and start to provide the tools and opportunities for people to change their lives, while still holding people accountable. I see on a daily basis at Fortune what can happen when you lean in with hope, support and resources. You begin to see that in the same way that people can adapt to survive the conditions of confinement, people can adapt to live safe, healthy and prosperous lives. Solitary confinement is something that just causes so much more hurt to those who are isolated and to those they come into contact with when they’re released.

Q: What misconceptions are there about solitary confinement that you want to debunk?

Stanley: I think one misconception that’s out there is that bad people will always be bad people. I think people live their lives in the circumstances that they find themselves in, and I think people try to manage that reality through whatever means necessary based on their experience. And if we continue to provide experiences of extreme isolation and brutality, people will only learn how to live that life. It’s not like a switch that you can turn off once you’ve experienced it. Solitary is ingrained in you and it is traumatizing. And how you deal with that trauma impacts your family, it impacts your community, it impacts those you are incarcerated with.

Q: What is New York City’s plan for ending solitary confinement?

Stanley: Instead of 23-hour lock-in, individuals are removed from the general population and placed in the Risk Management and Accountability System (RMAS) which centers on intensive programming and engagement to get at the underlying causes of the incident. There is a limit of 15-days in RMAS and includes ten hours of out-of-cell time. The model is built on levels where people can re-enter the general population by engaging in programs that allow the staff to assess what was going on. It’s a false narrative that without solitary confinement we can’t have accountability. The change is how we hold people accountable. RMAS is a system of accountability, but the process looks different than 23-hours in extreme isolation.

Editors’ Note: In June 2021, the NYC Board of Correction voted to end solitary confinement in the City’s jails and replace the punitive process with the Risk Management Accountability System. This model went into effect in the Fall of 2021.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for resources for those who have been in solitary confinement?

Stanley: I think the one thing people can do — and this is so important for the Black and Brown communities — you’ve got to seek help. This is not something that goes away with time. This is not something you forget about. If you are currently incarcerated, you can still seek mental health while you are still inside. •