Brandon Rodriguez died by suicide alone in a shower pen at the Rikers Island jail complex in 2021.

His mother spoke to NY1 last year about her heartbreak.

"They say he committed suicide after I don't even know how many days in solitary confinement, after being beat up by other detainees and violently extracted from the cell to be put in the shower cell," Tamara Carter, Rodriguez’s mother, told NY1 in 2022. "If he did do it, Rikers broke him."

This is a story often repeated on Rikers Island, one the City Council says it is trying to stop.

After years of debate, the City Council on Wednesday passed legislation banning the use of solitary confinement in city jails, marking a win for progressive lawmakers and jail reform advocates.

The bill has a veto-proof majority, meaning that the Council has enough votes to override a veto from Mayor Eric Adams, who opposes the measure.

"We want to make sure that the physiological effects of isolation that is proven is not something that is done anywhere in the city, and hopefully that will expand across the country," Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said.

The bill will only allow the Department of Correction to isolate detainees for four hours in a 24-hour period in so-called deescalation units.

It will require detainees to get 14 hours of time a day out of their cells and ban the use of locked shower units, which is where Rodriguez was put.

"The new disciplinary process established by this bill will allow temporary separation from the general population in instances where an individual engages in violence in custody," City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said.

City Hall says it does not use solitary confinement on Rikers Island.

But some advocates dispute this, arguing there are restrictive housing units that amount to severe isolation.

Adams and the union representing city correction officers have consistently raised objections to the legislation passed Wednesday.

"This is a tragedy," Benny Boscio, the head of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, said. “This is shameful. A year ago, we stood on the steps of City Hall with our members, testifying over 50 sexual assaults on female correction officers, and now they want no viable consequence for those violent acts."

And conservative members of the City Council say the bill will put officers at risk.

"There's no such thing as solitary confinement," Queens City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said. "The hole has been covered up for 10 years or more."