New Jersey bill purports to ban Solitary in County Jails for People with MI

              The NJ bill referenced above was vetoed by Gov. Christie see article at the bottom of this page.
 
               It is interesting because New Jersey categorizes "County Jails" as "Correctional Facilities."
               We want a "Ban" on AdSeg -- Administrative Segregation/Solitary Confinement/Isolated Confinement in Colorado Jails for people with Mental Illness as well AND we want to make it as easy as possible for Jail Administrators to go along with the trend that in many ways Colorado started in the US after the death of Christopher Lopez while in administrative segregation in Colorado's San Carlos prison.
                Further, this really needs to be expanded to other people with disabilities, including:  Traumatic Brain Injury, Developmental Disability, etc.
               

Page 3, Lines 34-46; Page 4, Lines 1-5
“Member of a vulnerable population” means any inmate who:
a. is 21 years of age or younger;
b. is [55] 65 years of age or older;
c. has a disability based on a mental illness, as defined in subsection r. of section 2 of P.L.1987, c.116 (C.30:4-27.2), a history of psychiatric hospitalization, or has recently exhibited conduct, including but not limited to serious self-mutilation, indicating the need for further observation or evaluation to determine the presence of mental illness;
d. has a developmental disability, as defined in subsection b. of section 3 of P.L.1985, c.145 (C.30:6D-25);
e. has a serious medical condition
which cannot effectively be treated in isolated confinement;
f. is pregnant, is in the postpartum period, or has recently suffered a miscarriage or terminated a pregnancy; or 
g. has a significant auditory or
visual impairment; or
h. is perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex

​
Page 5, Lines 9-18 
A clinician shall evaluate each inmate placed in isolated confinement on a daily basis, in a confidential setting outside of the cell whenever possible, 
to determine whether the inmate is a member of a vulnerable population; however, in a county correctional facility, an inmate in isolated confinement shall be evaluated by a member of the medical staff as frequently as clinically indicated, but at least once a week. Except as otherwise provided in subsection d. of this section, an inmate determined to be a member of a vulnerable population shall be immediately removed from isolated confinement and moved to an appropriate placement.

Page 3, Lines 5-6:  
"County correctional facility" means a county jail, penitentiary, prison, or workhouse.

Page 4, Lines 16-25
Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of subsection d. of this section, an inmate shall not be placed in isolated confinement unless there is reasonable cause to believe that  the inmate would create a substantial risk of immediate serious harm to himself or another,as evidenced by recent threats or conduct,  and a less restrictive intervention would be insufficient to reduce this risk. Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (1),(3), and (4) of subsection d. of this section, the correctional facility shall bear the burden of establishing this standard by clear and convincing evidence

Page 4, Lines 37-47
Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (1) of subsection d. of this section, an inmate shall only be held in isolated confinement pursuant to initial procedures and reviews which provide timely, fair and
 meaningful opportunities for the
​ inmate to contest the confinement. These procedures shall include the right to an initial hearing within 72 hours of placement and a review every 15 days thereafter, in the absence of 
exceptional circumstances,
unavoidable delays, or reasonable 
 postponements;
the right to appear at the hearing ;
 the right to be represented at the hearing
 an independent hearing officer;
 and a written statement of reasons for the decision made at the hearing.

Page 9, Lines 39-47
Requiring posting on the official website of the Department of Corrections of quarterly reports on the use of isolated confinement, by age, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, incidence of mental illness, and type of confinement status, at each facility, including a county correctional facility; these reports shall include the population on the last day of each quarter and a non-duplicative cumulative count of people exposed to isolated confinement for each fiscal year. These inmate reports also shall include the incidence of emergency confinement, self-harm, suicide.

​Christie vetoes bill limiting solitary confinement in N.J. prisons (& Jails) --
Christie is on the wrong side of history but that doesn't mean we have to be

          After the death of Christopher Lopez, Colorado did eliminate AdSeg [Administrative Segregation] for people with mental illness in Colorado prisons -- some states wouldn't have done that.
         The trickier issue is jails.  
          The New Jersey legislature put in a lot of work to eliminate adseg/solitary/isolation for "vulnerable" populations in New Jersey Jails and Prisons.
            We very much want to translate their good work to Colorado Jails and we know it is probably not going to be easy.
             We have requested that Gov. Hicklenlooper set up a Work Group with diverse stakeholders to tackle the many challenges. 
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/12/christie_vetoes_bill_limiting_solitary_confinement.html