New Jersey Limits Solitary Confinement In Prisons

On July 11, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation to limit solitary confinement in state prisons. The Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, Assembly Bill 314, restricts the use of isolated confinement in New Jersey’s correctional 13 facilities, which includes prohibiting inmates from being put in solitary, or isolated, confinement unless there is "clear and convincing evidence that the inmate or others are at substantial risk of harm." The law will be effective in August of 2020.

The legislation defined “isolated confinement” as confinement of an inmate in a correctional facility, pursuant to disciplinary, administrative, protective, investigative, medical, or . . .