John Oliver revealed how “solitary confinement,” which New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he opposes, isn’t much different from a concept the mayor claims to support — and, in fact, one city agency’s site says the two terms refer to the same thing.
Oliver, in a look at solitary confinement on Sunday, put Adams on blast as he called out euphemisms used for the form of imprisonment such as “segregation,” “protective custody,” “room restrictions” and “restrictive” or “security housing units.”
The “Last Week Tonight” host then pointed to an MSNBC interview in which Adams said he was opposed to solitary confinement as he issued his support for “punitive segregation.”
“Punitive segregation is a humane way of removing dangerous inmates to a location where they can get the services they need so they can stop preying on other inmates, staff and preying on society,” Adams said.
Oliver proceeded to show how the New York City Board of Corrections FAQ page strays from Adams’ own definition of the concept.
“[Its] own website says that ‘punitive segregation’ is also known as solitary confinement so that’s a pretty weird stance to take,” said Oliver before he tackled other “weird” moments from the mayor.
Oliver added to his takedown of Adams: “[He’s] repeatedly held up a sponge on stage to encourage people to wring out their internal despair, answering the question, ‘What if Mr. Clean was a motivational speaker?’”
You can see more of Oliver’s segment on solitary confinement below: