Our beloved Erick Tavira died in solitary confinement on Rikers Island on Oct. 22, 2022. Officials tried to give it another name. It’s still solitary confinement. Call it what you want, Erick died after being locked alone in a cell in solitary confinement with nobody watching him.

Why did they put him in there? Why didn’t they give him better treatment? Why did they put him in a cell alone? Our hearts are broken.

Erick had dreams just like everyone else. He liked writing. He liked to sing. He liked to be happy all the time.

He was incarcerated because he had mental health needs. He needed treatment, not jail and not solitary confinement. Jail is not treatment. Solitary confinement is not treatment. Solitary confinement causes mental health harm, increases the risk of death, and makes everyone less safe by causing people to deteriorate.

For years, officials have been promising to end solitary confinement and even claimed they have ended solitary. After Kalief Browder died, they promised to end solitary. After Layleen Polanco died, they promised to end solitary. Yet, the Department of........

© NY Daily News