layleen polanco

Criminal justice advocates want solitary confinement to be entirely prohibited immediately.

Polanco died on the ninth day she was in a restrictive housing unit—where she was held in solitary as a punitive measure.

The announcement came as the result of an internal investigation by the Dept of Correction, and three weeks after the Bronx DA's Office announced that no criminality was suspected in Polanco's death.

Officers were "confused" about how often they were supposed to check on the 27-year-old transgender woman, found dead in her cell on Rikers last summer.

"Layleen Polanco's passing further underscores the dangers of solitary confinement, which isolates already medically fragile people from observation and care."

Two former trans inmates held on Rikers with Polanco told Gothamist that she was sent to solitary confinement even though Rikers officials knew she had a history of seizures.

The cause of death is unknown, though authorities said that preliminary reports showed no sign of violence or foul play.