Paul Manafort is being sent to solitary confinement in my district – Rikers Island.
A prison sentence is not a license for gov torture and human rights violations. That‘s what solitary confinement is.
Manafort should be released, along with all people being held in solitary. https://t.co/9rERLDSzrD
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 5, 2019
High profile prisoners like Manafort are often placed in some form of protective custody. But it’s because they could be targets.
Via NBC:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., sent a tweet Wednesday that opposed putting Paul Manafort in “solitary confinement” if he is moved to a jail in New York City. That possibility, however, appears to be incorrect. Officials told NBC News that Manafort would not be placed in a solitary unit, which is considered a punishment, but if transferred to New York would be given his own cell for his safety.
The New York Times article that Ocasio-Cortez cited, which raised the possibility Manafort could be sent to Rikers Island, contained no mention of solitary confinement, only isolation, and noted that high-profile inmates are sometimes placed into “protective custody” for their own safety from the general prison population. Ocasio-Cortez said she opposed solitary confinement for all prisoners, which she likened to torture.
Ocasio-Cortez may have raised the solitary issue because of the Times’ initial headline, which read: “Paul Manafort to be sent to Rikers, where he faces solitary confinement.” That headline was later changed. The latest version of the headline reads, “Paul Manafort to Be Sent to Rikers, Where He Will Be Held in Isolation.”