Crisis At Rikers Island - Juveniles in Solitary Confinement - NYS Labor Unions Want Solitary Back

These Labor Unions Are Fighting to Keep Solitary Confinement A corrections officers’ union in New York is campaigning against new restrictions on solitary confinement—and it’s not the only union in the country opposing prison reforms. On February 13, at Wende Correctional Facility in upstate New York, Robert Adams had a fight with another incarcerated man while returning from recreation. As Adams explained it, officers moved to break them up, with one pepper-spraying Adams in the face before handcuffing him. Another officer taunted him, saying, “You got your ass kicked.” Adams, still handcuffed, told him to mind his business. In response, he said, the first officer punched him several times in the face, splitting his lip. According to Adams, officers brought him to the prison’s medical unit, where he was treated, then placed him in solitary confinement in what is euphemistically called the Special Housing Unit, or SHU. They issued a misbehavior report for assault on staff and sentenced him to eight months