The New York City Council moved to largely ban solitary confinement in city jails in a 39-7 vote Wednesday and also added new restrictions on other safety management tactics.

The council’s newly passed bill would prohibit placing inmates in solitary confinement for more than eight hours at night to sleep or for more than two hours during the day in a 24-hour period, unless for purposes of de-escalating violence or emergency lock-ins. Restrictions in the bill include limitations on de-escalation confinement, emergency lock-ins, and the use of restraints.

One of the more controversial portions of the bill adds new due process considerations for the placement of prisoners in restrictive housing. Restrictive housing is defined in the bill as “any housing area that separates incarcerated persons from the general jail population on the basis of security concerns or discipline.” The bill requires a hearing and guarantees due process rights where an inmate can contest removal from the general population.

The city council cited the highly damaging effects of solitary confinement on prisoners, including a heightened risk of death, and concerns about its disproportionate effect on minorities as reasons for passing the bill:

Solitary confinement has [been shown] to induce acute anxiety, depression, psychosis, and other impairments which may seriously reduce one’s capacity to reintegrate upon release. In New York City, these disastrous effects are felt almost exclusively by Black and brown people, who make up over 90% of all people in city jails.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams denounced the bill in a statement, saying that it posed a threat to the Department of Corrections’ ability to protect inmates and prison guards. Adams asserted that, while he opposes solitary confinement, he would be “reviewing all options” in response to the bill. The bill either requires Adams’ signature or a subsequent two-thirds vote of the council to overcome a potential veto.

The effort to ban solitary confinement in NYC comes after other notable cases concerning the subject, including a lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania prisoners concerning overall conditions they described as “torturous” and a recent refusal from the US Supreme Court to hear a challenge from an inmate of the Pontiac Correctional Facility in Illinois over exercise deprivation.