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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 July 2021
Polanco v. City of New York, No. 19-CV-4623, 2019 WL 3781054 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 8, 2019).
2 Stipulation and Order of Settlement and Discontinuance at 2, Polanco v. City of New York, No. 19-CV-4623, 2019 WL 3781054 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 2, 2020).
3 Mihir Zaveri, N.Y.C. to Pay $5.9 Million in Death of Transgender Woman at Rikers, N.Y. Times (Aug. 31, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/nyregion/layleen-polanco-settlement-rikers-transgender.html [https://perma.cc/292T-2M97].
4 See Lambda Legal, Chapter II: Transgender Incarcerated People in Crisis, in Transgender Rights Toolkit 5 (2016), https://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/publications/downloads/2016_trans_toolkit_final.pdf [https://perma.cc/FA4W-ZCZX] (“Solitary confinement affects many people incarcerated in U.S. jails, prisons and detention facilities, but none so significantly as transgender inmates and immigrant detainees involuntarily confined not because of their actions, but because of their identities.”).
5 S.E. James et. al, 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, National Center for Transgender Equality 14 (2016), https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf [https://perma.cc/X42M-V984].
6 Complaint at 3, Polanco v. City of New York, No. 19-CV-4623, 2019 WL 3781054 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 12, 2019) (hereinafter “Complaint”).
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 See Zaveri, supra note 3 (finding that “[a] jail psychiatrist, noting [Polanco's] seizure disorder, initially refused to clear her being placed in solitary confinement … [b]ut a different mental health clinician later approved the punishment, according to the Board of Correction.”).
10 Complaint at 4.
11 Zaveri, supra note 3.
12 Complaint at 1, 4-5.
13 Kate Sosin, New video reveals Layleen Polanco's death at Rikers was preventable, family says, NBC News (June 13, 2020), https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/new-video-reveals-layleen-polanco-s-death-rikers-was-preventable-n1230951 [https://perma.cc/4NH3-BHGB].
14 Zaveri, supra note 3.
15 Complaint at 5.
16 Id. at 6; see also Paula Mejia, City Pays $3.5 Million To Family Of Man Who Was Allegedly Denied Epilepsy Meds At Rikers, Gothamist (May 1, 2019), https://gothamist.com/news/city-pays-35-million-to-family-of-man-who-was-allegedly-denied-epilepsy-meds-at-rikers [https://perma.cc/E6AN-GWR9].
17 Zaveri, supra note 3.
18 Sosin, supra note 13. A deadname is the name given at birth to a trans individual that they no longer use after transitioning. Deadname, Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadname (last visited Jan. 14, 2021) [https://perma.cc/SEG9-29ZZ].
19 Complaint at 7-9 (arguing that the City of New York and its employees acted with “deliberate indifference to Ms. Polanco’s need for reasonable accommodation by placing her in a restricted housing unit, where she could not readily be observed and, in the event of a seizure, could be given medical care.”).
20 Zaveri, supra note 3.
21 Zaveri, supra note 3.
22 Goldensohn, Rosa, NYC to Pay Layleen Polanco’s Family Record $5.9M Over Rikers Island Solitary Death, City (Aug. 30, 2020)Google Scholar, https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/8/30/21407833/layleen-polancos-nyc-record-lawsuit-settlement-rikers-island-solitary-death [https://perma.cc/Q7Q6-J8GG].
23 Rosa Goldensohn and Reuven Blau, Mayor de Blasio Vows End of Solitary Confinement in New York City Jails, City (June 29, 2020), https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/6/29/21306995/mayor-de-blasio-vows-end-of-solitary-confinement-nyc-jails [https://perma.cc/2YMP-ZSPH] [hereinafter “de Blasio Vows”].
24 Id.
25 See Rosa Goldensohn and Reuven Blau, De Blasio Promised Nearly Six Months Ago to End Solitary Confinement. So Where’s the Plan?, City (Dec. 6, 2020), https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/12/6/22154375/de-blasio-end-solitary-confinement-rikers-jail-polanco [https://perma.cc/53L4-9H8J] (stating that “a plan will be released before the end of the month” but recognizing that “[s]uch a complex undertaking requires meaningful planning and collaboration with the Department of Correction, the union and those with lived experience to ensure the result is a system that ensures the safety and well-being of staff and people in custody”) [hereinafter “de Blasio Promised”].
26 Council of City of NY Int. No. 2173, § 9-161 Solitary confinement (Dec. 10, 2020) (proposing that “[n]o incarcerated individual shall be placed in solitary confinement unless such confinement is necessary to de-escalate immediate conflict, in which case an incarcerated individual may be placed in such confinement for no longer than four hours immediately following such conflict.”).
27 Goldensohn and Blau, de Blasio Promised, supra note 25.
28 Goldensohn and Blau, de Blasio Vows, supra note 23.
29 Id.
30 Jan Ransom, 17 Rikers Guards Will Be Disciplined in Death of Transgender Woman, N.Y. Times (June 26, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/nyregion/layleen-polanco-rikers-transgender-death.html?searchResultPosition=1 [https://perma.cc/58U6-GCN9].
31 Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12132 (1990); see also Complaint at 8-9.
32 Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206, 209 (1998).
33 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(d) (2016).
34 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(b)(7).
35 See Jamelia Morgan, Caged In: Solitary Confinement’s Devastating Harm on those with Physical Disabilities 30 (2017), https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/010916-aclu-solitarydisabilityreport-single.pdf [https://perma.cc/SJ7V-6CYM] (describing limited access to medical care while in solitary, including denial of prescriptions and access to normal therapy routines); Anna Guy, Locked Up and Locked Down Segregation of Inmates with Mental Illness 12 (2016), http://avidprisonproject.org/assets/locked-up-and-locked-down----avid-prison-project.pdf [https://perma.cc/ERS3-CJHW] ("Designed to disconnect inmates from most forms of human contact and environmental stimulation, inmates in segregation have little access to programming, services, or treatment during the course of their confinement.").
36 See Morgan, supra note 35, at 27 ("Even short stints in solitary confinement can lead to serious physical consequences for people with disabilities."); Guy, supra note 35, at 13 ("Research reveals that inmates placed in these harsh conditions often experience intense mental and physical distress; for inmates with mental illness, these conditions can have a catastrophic impact. Inmates in segregation routinely report extreme sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, psychiatric decompensation, hallucinations, and behaviors relating to selfharm and even suicide.").
37 See Margo Schlanger, How the ADA Regulates and Restricts Solitary Confinement for People with Mental Disabilities, Am. Constitution Soc'y. Issue Brief 1, 2 (2016) (arguing that “solitary confinement of prisoners with mental illness or intellectual disabilities frequently constitutes disability discrimination, challengeable under Title II of the ADA.”).
38 Goldensohn and Blau, de Blasio Vows, supra note 25.
39 Joshua Kaplan, NYPD Cops Cash In on Sex Trade Arrests With Little Evidence, While Black and Brown New Yorkers Pay the Price, ProPublica (Dec. 7, 2020), https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-cops-cash-in-on-sex-trade-arrests-with-little-evidence-while-black-and-brown-new-yorkers-pay-the-price [https://perma.cc/W2QY-ZCT5].
40 Christopher Robbins, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Defends His First Term: “I’m a Good Progressive”, The Medium (Dec. 19, 2017), https://medium.com/@robbinscm/mayor-bill-de-blasio-gothamist-dnainfo-interview-cbce444ca421 [https://perma.cc/5PJL-JPPK].
41 S. 6419, 2019-2020 Leg. Regular Sess. (N.Y. 2019) (proposing decriminalization of sex work).
42 See Kaplan, supra note 39.
43 Rebecca Chowdery, ‘Queer Lives Are At Stake’: New York Could Be the First State to Decriminalize Sex Work, Indypendent (Mar. 4. 2020), https://indypendent.org/2020/03/queer-lives-are-at-stake-new-york-could-be-the-first-state-to-decriminalize-sex-work/ [https://perma.cc/R3FC-WSKP].
44 Zaveri, supra note 3.
45 Chowdery, supra note 43.
46 Floyd v. City of New York, 959 F.Supp.2d 540, 562-63 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (ordering “immediate change” to NYPD's unconstitutional stop and frisk policies of “disproportionate and discriminatory stopping of blacks and Hispanics in violation of the Equal Protection Clause”).
47 Chowdery, supra note 43 (noting that “[a]dvocates fighting to decriminalize sex work here in New York State refer to … 'walking while trans' and compare it to the Bloomberg-era practice of stop-and-frisk policing. Cops disproportionately target and harass trans women and 'loitering' statutes are one of the tools in their arsenal.”).
48 EJ Dickson, How the Tragic Death of Layleen Polanco Exposes Horrors of Criminalizing Sex Work, Rolling Stone (June 13, 2019), https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/layleen-polanco-transgender-decriminalize-sex-work-847437/ [https://perma.cc/GXT4-YELM].
49 See Kaplan, supra note 39.
50 Id.
51 Emma Whitford, When Walking While Trans Is a Crime The NYPD says it’s taking a more sensitive approach to sex work, but not everyone benefits, Cut (2018), https://www.thecut.com/2018/01/when-walking-while-trans-is-a-crime.html [https://perma.cc/ZWC7-LMDM].
52 Stipulation and Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, D.H. v. City of New York, No. 16-cv-07698-PKC-KNF (S.D.N.Y Apr. 11, 2019). Specifically, the plaintiffs brought freedom of expression claims under the First Amendment, unreasonable search and seizure claims and excessive force claims under the Fourth Amendment, and due process and equal protection claims under the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as a variety of federal, state, and municipal statutory claims. See Complaint at 62-83, D.H. v. City of New York, No. 16-cv-07698-PKC-KNF (S.D.N.Y Sept, 30, 2016).
53 Tara Boghosian, COVID-19 and the Untenable Criminalization of Sex Work, OnLabor (Apr. 29, 2020), https://onlabor.org/covid-19-and-the-untenable-criminalization-of-sex-work/ [https://perma.cc/JG9W-7U36].
54 Carson Kessler, Sex Workers Slammed by the Pandemic Say City Council Aid Misses the Mark, City (Aug. 12, 2020), https://www.thecity.nyc/economy/2020/8/12/21360911/nyc-sex-workers-slammed-by-the-pandemic-looking-for-support [https://perma.cc/H3AY-98ER]; see also 13 C.F.R. § 120.110(p) (2020) (banning businesses from obtaining relief which “[p]resent live performances of a prurient sexual nature; or … [d]erive directly or indirectly more than de minimis gross revenue through the sale of products or services, or the presentation of any depictions or displays, of a prurient sexual nature.”).
55 See Kessler, supra note 54 (finding that although the New York City Council allocated $4.1 million to “support people involved in the sex trade,” sex workers say they “aren’t directly seeing any of the funds”).
56 See EJ Dickson, An EMT Joined OnlyFans to Make Ends Meet. Then the ‘New York Post’ Shamed Her, Rolling Stone, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/onlyfans-emt-lauren-kwei-1103336/ [https://perma.cc/UN9M-DRLP] (finding user sign-ups for OnlyFans, a popular web camera sex work platform, have increased by 75 percent since the start of the coronavirus pandemic).
57 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC), Twitter (Dec. 15, 2020, 9:24PM), https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1339033546313371648 [http://web.archive.org/web/20210424051339/https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1339033546313371648].
58 SAFE SEX Workers Study Act, H.R.5448, 116th Congr. (2019) (recognizing “[w]idespread discrimination against populations, including LGBTQI+ individuals, particularly transgender women of color”).
59 H.R. 702, 116th Cong. (2019).
60 Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 201.354 (2017).