


The hearing officer found Samuels guilty and sent him to solitary for 30 months. After the incident, Samuels was given a hearing, but he was reportedly not allowed to present witnesses and since then, one of the accusing officers was convicted of “attempted fraudulent practice” and fired from the department. “I’ve got a permanent headache and will likely have to spend a portion of the money on medication,” Samuels said. While the officers claimed Samuels assaulted three guards, Samuels has received $200,000 from the settlement of a lawsuit alleging that the officers actually attacked him.


The lawsuit calls for an end to isolation of people with mental illness as well as implementation of alternatives to solitary. Liberty with solitary confinement for attempting suicide.” An attorney with the Disability Law Center estimated that at least 100 people with mental illness are held in solitary confinement at ACI every year. Ultimately, the lawsuit said, officials at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI) “punished Ms. Charlene Liberty, one of the six plaintiffs, struggles with psychiatric disabilities, and her placement in solitary drove her to attempt suicide several times. Providence Journal reported that the ACLU and Disability Rights Rhode Island filed a class action lawsuit against the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC), claiming that their use of solitary confinement violates the 8th Amendment and federal disability law.The report found that the increase has transpired under the name of “Keeplock Sanctions,” which isolates a person for up to 23 hours a day “in a bare cell the size of a small elevator.” The NYCLU calls for the state to pass the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement, which would restrict the use of solitary in all forms, including keeplock, to a maximum of fifteen consecutive days. “The total number of disciplinary solitary sanctions has actually increased, from 37,600 in 2015 to 38,249 in 2018,” according to the report, even though the state signed on to a settlement in 2015, agreeing to reduce the use of solitary. According to the Crime Report, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) released a report last week that found an increase in the use of solitary confinement across the New York prison system.
