REMARKS
Council Member Tiffany Cabán Explains Her Vote to Overturn Mayor's Veto
0:17:14
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106 sec
Council Member Tiffany Cabán explains her vote against solitary confinement, drawing from her experiences as a public defender and visits to Rikers Island.
She emphasizes the council's collective decision to pursue legislative changes through bill 549 a, reflecting on the contributions of the halt solitary coalition, freedom agenda, and affected families towards ending the practice of solitary confinement.
Speaker 8
0:17:14
Permission to explain my vote?
0:17:16
Thank you.
0:17:18
It's really quite simple.
0:17:20
We will never torture our way to safety.
0:17:23
And I want to extend my gratitude, my undying gratitude, to the halt solitary coalition, to freedom agenda, to all the advocates.
0:17:31
But again, 1st and foremost, as I had said earlier, to the families who have been so directly impacted and who who have had to to turn their their pain into organized power to to make sure that other families don't deal with this.
0:17:45
And, you know, as a career public defender, as somebody who has joined my colleagues walking the halls of Rikers Island, I can tell you without question that solitary confinement does exist.
0:17:56
I don't care what you call it, and people are being tortured, and we are gonna take a step towards ending that today.
0:18:03
And to to sum up, I also just want to make this record.
0:18:06
The entire council has considered and weighed all of the sometimes competing information from various state holders, including people who have lived through solitary, family members, other national experts, people working in the jails, the DOC commissioner, the federal monitor, And we have decided that the provisions of 549 a are the proper way forward and are urgent and necessary to stop harm, reduce violence, and safe lives.
0:18:28
The entire council has fully considered all of the information and concerns shared by the monitor.
0:18:33
And after considering the competing information, including that shared by other national experts on solitary and violence prevention, we believe that the current retried and renamed policies have led to endless cycles of abuse, violence, and death, while 549 a provides an opportunity for a new approach utilizing scientifically proven methods for reducing violence and better protecting people's health.
0:18:57
So I very proudly vote I on all.
0:18:59
Thank you.